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SPECTACLES 


FOR YOUNG EYES, 


ST. PETERSBURG . 


By SABAH W. LANDER. 

\ * 


“We look before and after.” — Shellet. 


BOSTON: 

WALKER, WISE, AND COMPANY, 

245 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1864. 





Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
Walker, Wise, and Company, 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 


* 


University Press: 
Welch, Bigelow, and Company 
Cambridge. 





AFFECTIONATELY 


Betif cateto 

TO 

OUR LITTLE RUSSIANS, 

•LEZINKA AND BABINKA. 












CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

PAOB 

A Wonderful Country. i * » 9 

CHAPTER II. 

The Pale City ......... 16 

CHAPTER III. 

The Shops! — The Statue of Peter the Great , . 26 

CHAPTER IV. 

Alexander’s Column. — The Arsenal . .' ? .44 

CHAPTER V. 

Cronstadt. 60 

CHAPTER VI. 

Palm-Sunday Fair. — The Navy. 74 

CHAPTER VII. 


Easter Eve 


85 







CONTENTS. 


viii 


Easter Eggs 


CHAPTER VIII. 


CHAPTER IX. 

POMINATELNUI PONYEDELNIK (RECOLLECTION MONDAY) 

CHAPTER X. 

The Winter Palace. — The Hermitage . 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Spring. — The Neva. 


CHAPTER XII. 

The Islands. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Peterhof. — Foundling Hospital 


CHAPTER XIV. 

A Ride with a Laplander. — The Market . . 

CHAPTER XV. 

Church of Kesan. —Fortress. — Isaac’s Church . 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Ice-Hills and Ice Cutting . 


. 108 


. 115 


. 126 


. 137 


U9 


. 159 


. 174 


. 186 


. 198 




SPECTACLES 


CHAPTER I. 

A WONDERFUL SOUNTRT. 

Far, far away, in that wonderful eoumtry 
where the sun shines all night, and where, 
when you wake in the morning, you find he 
has risen before you, even if you try to get up 
before sunrise, in summer ; — in that country, 
where the domes of the churches are covered 
with gold, that glitters like water in the sun, 
and where the people talk in a strange lan¬ 
guage, of which we have not even learned the 
letters, there lived a family of children, who were 
born in America, and whom we last saw gathering 
sea-weeds and shells on the shores of the Atlantic. 
Their father, James Hamilton, has been sent as 
engineer to this strange country, where there 
were no railroads till recently, and the children 
came with him; they will tell you all they saw, 
if you will listen. If you should chance to look 
out of the window, to see the inhabitants of 
1* 


\ 



10 


SPECTACLES. 


this strange country, you would see the men 
who happen to be passing by have generally 
very light blue eyes, and very light or very red 
hair, as if all the warmth of the climate had 
condensed in the inhabitants. What a pity these 
red heads should not feel as warm as they look! 
— for it is a very cold country where they are, 
and it seems as if they had flared up in vain 
to keep out the cold. Our very neighbor, who 
lives next door, had his nose frozen yesterday! 

If you should walk out into the street, per¬ 
haps some one will run up to you, and rub a 
snowball in your face, and before you have time 
to be angry with him, he will say politely,— 

“ Your nose is freezing! ” 

Then, of course, you feel very grateful! — but 
what a remarkable country this is, where you 
are grateful to a person for what, in America, 
we should call an indignity. Everything is so 
strange here! ^ 

The snow powder in the air is so thick, that 
it almost blinds your eyes, for the incessant 
frost makes the ice so hard, that horses’ feet 
going over it raise such a mist that you can 
hardly see. A wonderful country it is! Where 
the ice is frozen like stone, so that it flies into 
a fine dusty powder, as on a flinty road, and 
where the people run through the streets, to keep 
from freezing to death. 


A WONDERFUL COUNTRY. 


11 


There are no wells to be dug there; but there 
is a river where the waters are as clear as crys¬ 
tal, and along the river in winter there is a 
road on the ice, with little fir-trees planted on 
each side of it, to mark the way. It is so fear¬ 
fully cold in this country, that sometimes a man 
can row across the river in a boat, and see bits 
of ice just floating in the water beside him; 
and if he means to come back a few hours 
later, he will find he must leave his boat behind 
him on the shore, and that he can walk home 
on solid ice, over the river, without even wet¬ 
ting his feet! 

Then footpaths and carriage-roads are marked 
out on it; and the little green fir-trees are plant- 
_ ed along the sides to mark the way, and shorten 
it for travellers, who would be lost on the ice 
but for this precaution. Far down the river, 
refreshment houses are put up for weary men 
to rest in, and the frozen river is as firm as the 
earth. 

There is one thing that is still more strange; 
perhaps you will not believe it. It is said that 
the ice on the frozen road is so condensed in 
winter, by the weight and pressure of the crowd 
of people travelling over it, that it does not melt 
so soon as the rest of the river. Then people 
walk and laugh on it, with the green water roll- 


12 


SPECTACLES. 


ing on each side of them, and the frozen road 
appears as hard as ever. But it is so dangerous 
then, the police have to keep guard to prevent 
the foolish people — who are so fond of their 
river — losing their lives by their carelessness. 

When the ice-roads are all gone, they have 
strange bridges made of boats, which can be put 
up and taken down in a few hours. This is 
because the ice floats down the river in such 
heavy masses that it would destroy an ordinary 
bridge, and because the soil is so very marshy 
on the banks that it would be troublesome to 
make a solid foundation for one. These bridges 
are taken to pieces, two or three times in a 
day, when the heavy ice comes floating by, and 
are removed easily, when the river begins its 
rapid freezing. 

There is a magnificent city built on the marshy 
banks of this river, and on the small islands in 
it. On^ one of these islands there is a little 
palace that it would please a child to see, and 
seems made for the Empress to use, if she should 
be tired of being an Empress, and should wish 
to be a child again,— 

“ As if a rose could shut and be a bud again.” 

In this miniature palace there is everything di¬ 
minutive, — little chairs, little tables, little couch¬ 
es, two tiny cups and saucers, and everything 


A WONDERFUL COUNTRY. 13 

is quite perfect. There is a little bridge that 
connects the island with the main-land, so that 
it can be drawn up, and no one can pass to 
the island unless the Empress should wish to 
see them, nor can go away unless she chooses. 
Even an Empress must wish sometimes to play 
at quiet life, as you may have wished to be an 
Empress — in your play. 

Another palace in this beautiful city has a 
garden, heated by brick vaults beneath it, to 
make an eternal summer, and trees with nets 
of gold wire over them, to keep beautiful trop¬ 
ical birds confined there, where the Empress 
Catherine II. fed them daily with her own im¬ 
perial hands. 

This rare city is St. Petersburg. Have you 
guessed that this strange country is Russia ? 
Ear beyond England, Ireland, and Scotland! 
Beyond Germany, where the people always seem 
to have a dreadful hoarseness and sore-throat, 
and yet they can sit out of doors and drink 
beer under the trees all day. Beyond Holland, 
where the towns are built in the water. And 
almost out to the wonderful Chinese, where the 
children wear their hair braided in long tails, 
and have their feet bandaged to keep them 
small enough to fit their little turned-up slip¬ 
pers. 


14 


SPECTACLES. 


Are we not grateful for being born in this 
free country, America ? To be sure, there are 
slaves here still, while the Russian serfs have 
been recently liberated by their generous Em¬ 
peror. We think we could not live under an 
Emperor, even if he can free slaves without 
bloodshed, for we are Americans, who cannot 
be happy under a king. 

Once, in Russia, one of our lowly-minded and 
democratic Americans, who did not know it was 
pride in him, 1 suppose, would not stoop to bow 
to the Emperor Paul who was passing. As it 
is the custom in Russia for all persons to re¬ 
main uncovered in the presence of the Emperor, 
the American was arrested, and carried before 
a magistrate who inquired the reason of this 
disrespect. He gave in excuse the answer, 
that he did not see his Majesty. 

With great solemnity, he was then shown into 
another room, where there was a table covered 
with spectacles of all kinds and sizes, and he 
was told to choose a pair that would fit his eyes. 
He selected them in haste, and was then ordered 
to wear them as long as he remained in the 
country, that he might be sure always to see the 
Emperor J 

Many years after this, the gentleman was met 
by an old friend in London, who found him still 


A WONDERFUL COUNTRY. 


15 


wearing tlie spectacles. For his eyes had be¬ 
come so accustomed to the use of them, that he 
could not see distinctly without them. 

Let me hope, that through my Russian Specta¬ 
cles you will not fail to recognize royalty! 


CHAPTER II. 


0 

THE PALE CITY. 

Now picture to yourselves a city so pale that 
it looks like a phantom city, for it is almost shad¬ 
owless ; white marble palaces,, with rows of hand¬ 
some white stuccoed houses, ^vith tall pillars, are 
on each side of the broad streets. A pale, lead- 
colored sky overhead, whose faint sunshine casts 
no shadow on the snow in the streets, — snow, 
that has not become soiled and muddy by fre¬ 
quent thaws, but is so crisp and hard that it is 
like flint, and spring seems too far off to be 
dreamed of. Then a white, frozen river, the 
river Neva, and if the snow should be falling, — 
which is so hard and congealed, that even our 
Emperor does not need an umbrella in it,— 
then you feel — seen through the faint mist — as 
if the whole city were the unsubstantial fabric of 
a dream, and might fade from your sight like a 
vision. 

You would feel this still more if you knew 
that it was built on a morass, whose substance is 
so shifting that the ground shakes beneath your 


THE PALE CITY. 


17 


feet in the spring; and that the sidewalks and 
paved streets, formed of blocks of wood, are con¬ 
tinually undergoing repairs as block after block 
sinks beneath the surface. Would not you think 
that Peter the Great, in founding his beautiful 
city here, enjoyed the difficulties which would 
have prevented a weaker character from under¬ 
taking it ? For this pale, phantom city is St. 
Petersburg; it is the home of the children in our 
story, and was founded in 1703, by Peter I., 
Alexeievitch, Czar of Russia. 

When I say Peter enjoyed the difficulties of 
founding his city on a spot that had no founda¬ 
tion, for at the time he had no right to the place, 
and often during the building of the palaces the 
hammer and saw were dropped, and the sword 
taken up, in war against the Swedes, to whom it 
belonged, and from whom he wrested it. He 
knew that it would be accessible to all foreign 
nations, and having learned that his people were 
deficient in commerce and navigation, he went 
away to Saardam, in Holland, to learn these, and 
worked in a ship-yard as a common laborer, re¬ 
ceiving his wages at night, and living on the 
plain food that he could buy with what he 
earned. Sometimes the master ship-builder 
would cry out, “ Peter Zimmerman, help lift 
that log there, why are you loitering! ” and the 

B 


18 


SPECTACLES. 


Emperor would lift the log and work hard like a 
poQr laborer. Afterwards he went to England, 
and was permitted by the English king, William 
the Third, to have free access to see all that he 
wished that might improve his people, and on 
Peter’s return to Russia he helped build a small 
vessel with his own hands, and a small house, 
which are still preserved by the Russians with 
care and veneration, and which are the first 
foundation of the great Russian navy, and of 
this magnificent city of the Czars. 

Peter entered the army as a private, even as a 
drummer-boy, and worked his way up to be a 
great soldier. You will ask if he was of humble 
origin. No ! He was son of an Emperor, but his 
sister Sophia, who was older than he, had great 
ambition and some talent, and she tried to keep 
Peter beneath her, and even tried to make him a 
weak and a wicked man ; but he spurned the low 
temptations placed before him; and when she 
attempted to take his life, then he overthrew the 
conspirators; his sister Sophia was shut up in 
a convent, and Peter began to rule the vast 
country he inherited from his father. And the 
desire to improve and civilize his people induced 
him to go abroad, and he compelled large num¬ 
bers of the young nobles to go also, that they 
might bring home new customs. 


THE PALE CITY. 


19 


On his return, he obliged the Russians to form 
new habits of life, and put in practice what he 
had learned. 

Then he coveted a port on the Baltic; and as 
Charles XII. of Sweden was only fifteen years 
old, Peter and some of the surrounding sov¬ 
ereigns thought it would be a good time to take 
possession of some Swedish provinces. 

The Russians commenced the war, and laid 
siege to Narva. But Charles advanced to de¬ 
fend his kingdom, and attacked their camp, and 
defeated an army of 80,000 men with only 8,000. 
But then Peter was not in that battle. 

What did Peter say to this, — was he dis¬ 
couraged, do you think ? No ! Peter only said, 
“ I knew the Swedes would beat us, but in time 
they will teach us to beat them.” 

So Peter improved the discipline of his armies, 
increased their strength, and conquered Ingria, 
Livonia, and the city of Narva. In this newly- 
conquered country, on a desert island, he founded 
the city which I told you about, the city of 
St. Petersburg. 

Afterwards, at the battle of Pultowa, Peter 
defeated Charles, who escaped, wounded, with 
three hundred men. Then he was so overjoyed 
at his success that he promoted his officers, and 
because he himself had taken a Swedish com- 


20 


SPECTACLES. 


mander prisoner and had a ball shot through his 
hat, he promoted himself to the rank of major- 
general. So, having seen the drummer rise to 
be major-general, we can leave him now, the 
“ Emperor of all the Russias,” which was the 
title he last bore, and which still descends to his 
successors. 

The simple habits of Peter’s life are also imi¬ 
tated in a great degree by his successors. The 
driving out with a single pair of horses, and en¬ 
tering the ranks as a private soldier, are followed 
as a national custom by all the Emperors. 

An American lady and her husband, while 
driving out quietly in the country, met the pres¬ 
ent Emperor and Empress in a plain vehicle, 
without outriders, and the American lady gently 
looked at the Russian one, thinking she was a 
pleasant person, but not handsome, when her 
husband exclaimed, hurriedly, “ It is the Em¬ 
peror! Bow! why don’t you bow!” So, my 
dear little ones, you can see that an Emperor and 
Empress look exactly like other people, and are 
not fond of all the grandeur that perhaps you 
may sometimes envy them. 

It was the wish of Peter the Great, that his 
subjects .should learn the manners and customs • 
of other nations ; when he founded his mag¬ 
nificent city, where no fine trees nor flowers 


THE PALE CITY. 


21 


grow, but where birch and firs, instead of large 
oaks and elms, are waving; and where hot-house 
plants and fruits in profusion make the winter 
seem like summer. The immense wealth that is 
gathered there can buy luxuries we hardly think 
of, and peaches and strawberries in winter are 
as common as blueberries in summer here. 

At the schools in St. Petersburg the children 
are made to learn their lessons in different lan¬ 
guages at once, and to recite and translate them 
from one language to another, and learn these 
all at the same time. Could you study your 
history in French, and recite it in German; and 
learn your spelling lesson in Russ, and your 
grammar in English, as these children have to 
do ? And yet you think your school is very 
tiresome, when you feel idle. 

One strange thing happened! — the people be¬ 
gan to forget their own native tongue. They 
neglected to use it, French was so common,— 
and everybody understands French, but every¬ 
body does not understand Russ; so the Em¬ 
peror began to think there would be no national 
tongue, and he gave out word that young chil¬ 
dren shouTd be obliged to learn and to speak the 
Russian language. But they do not learn less 
French, English, and German. 

You meet little children talking who speak all 


22 


SPECTACLES. 


these fluently, b.ut they mix them together in a 
funny way that would make you laugh. A Rus¬ 
sian child will say, “ Di te me bon-bons ! ” (Give 
me some sugar-plums !) ; or, if she is delighted 
with anything you give her, will cry out, “ Etta 
pitty tarn! ” (That is pretty!); or “ Etta mam¬ 
ma’s domo,” (That is mamma’s house,) if she is 
out walking and comes home. 

One thing I have noticed, — which is very 
reasonable,—our baby, (or “babinka,” as they 
call him here,) our baby has so many languages 
to select from, in learning to talk, that it seems 
to doubt which to speak first; for though he 
understands and bows, if you speak to him in 
either, he talks very little, and generally chooses 
the language his nurse speaks. For he says 
“neate” and “da,” for yes and no; but he 
looks dignified, and bows, (they are so extremely 
polite in Russia,) and does not condescend to 
chatter, as they do in New England at the same 
age. 

It is surprising to see how these Yankee chil¬ 
dren gather up strange words and customs, with 
the same delight and amusement with which 
they gathered shells and pebbles on the sea¬ 
shore, where they were when we last left them. 

But the red sea-weed, the bright pebbles, and 
the pearl shells 
































































































































































THE PALE CITY. 


23 


“ left their beauty on the shore, 

With the winds and waves and wild uproar.” 

But these foreign customs and strange sights 
will never be erased from their memory. 

Their mother is a pale, delicate lady, and 
very different from her husband, our old friend 
James Hamilton, whose vast stock of information 
and love of languages are especially valuable 
in a foreign country, and who gathers curiosities 
till we wonder whether his “ brain will carry 
all he knows/’ — while his wife is annoyed and 
perplexed to death by the continual questions 
that children are always asking. 

“ 0 mamma, mamma! ” little Mary shouted, 
“ there is a drosky going by, with three horses 
harnessed abreast, and one of them has his head 
tied down on one side, for show; what is that 
for , mamma ? ” 

“ That is the custom of the country, my dear,” 
she answered, gently. 

When you have no reason to give, it is so 
much easier to say, “It is the custom of the 
country.” And I find Mrs. Hamilton always has 
that answer ready, and that it always satisfies the 
children. 

There is an indescribable charm about living 
in a foreign country, that drives away homesick¬ 
ness; for the change is so great, you forget to 


24 


SPECTACLES. 


pine for home, and laugh instead, over the strange 
customs and habits of the people and the coun¬ 
try you are in. 

There is no gas needed here to light the streets 
in summer, for it is light enough to read your 
Bible at midnight (but I forget to do it, I am so 
busy looking out to see the men at work in the 
distant fields or unloading vessels at the wharf). 
And though at last we had to fasten up dark 
curtains to the windows to keep out the light, 
(for one must sleep at midnight, even if the 
world goes on the same outside,) a Russian nurse, 
who returned with us to America, complained 
bitterly of the gloomy nights there, and cried in 
her homesickness on account of the blackness. 

Everything is so different here, one cannot 
even take a cup of tea — and what can be more 
simple than taking a cup of tea — without 
seeing this great difference. And the night we 
travellers first arrived, the boys ran in to their 
mother’s room exclaiming, — 

“ Mamma, mamma, they have put lemon-juice 
into their tea, instead of cream ! mamma ! 

“ And Lina bites off a bit of sugar from the 
lump at every mouthful she drinks; she can’t 
stir it into her tea, and she can’t eat it as we do. 
Let us stay always in this strange country, mam¬ 
ma, it is so much nicer than America.” 


THE PALE CITY. 


25 


Their mother sighed gently; she thought of 
the few years they might be obliged to remain in 
their new home, and of the simplicity of the 
child’s heart, where the present moment is al¬ 
ways the happiest. 

“ To-morrow,” she said, “ when you ride out 
to see the city, then you can tell better how you 
like this country.” 

“ 0 yes! To-morrow, to-morrow! ” they shout¬ 
ed. And then they fell asleep, with the daylight 
still shining in their eyes, and dreaming of “ to¬ 
morrow,” as we all still hope and dream of a 
happier day! 


VOL. II. 


2 



CHAPTER III. 


THE SHOPS. — THE STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 

Early the next morning the children claimed 
their promise of a holiday:. Why are you al¬ 
ways so impatient, you children ? 

You have not seen them yet, I forget! First, 
there is little Mary; she is so young that there is 
not much to say about her, — shall we leave her 
to grow up ? But then we can say she has very 
pink cheeks and very black eyes, and that she 
was often frightened in the dark. Are you 
frightened in the dark sometimes ? Then tell 
mamma at once ; it is the not telling that makes 
you feel frightened. 

I knew a little boy once who was so brave, that 
his other brothers said to him, “ What makes 
you so brave ? ” For he went about the house 
the darkest nights without a candle and without 
fear. “ What makes you so brave ? ” they asked, 
— he was such a little fellow! Quite confi¬ 
dentially he whispered, — and I will tell you the 
secret, — he said, “ I always say my prayers if 
I begin to feel frightened, and I feel quite safe.” 


THE SHOPS. 


27 


That brave boy became a great general, and 
to-day you hear the story of his courage, that 
he thought, when he lisped it, would never come 
out; but secrets always do come out. I would 
not advise you to have many. 

For how should I know you were frightened 
in the dark ? Because I was a child myself, 
once, — that is the reason. 

Now about our Peter! He is a very small 
boy, with a very big head, and he is always ask¬ 
ing questions, — such funny ones, too ! If there 
is anything strange about this book, you must 
remember it is all Peter’s, and not my fault! 

When we do anything wrong, it is always 
somebody’s fault, you know ; — even away back 
as far as old Adam, who ate the apple that you 
read about in your Bible history. Well, even 
he said it was Eve, and not he, who was to 
blame. Ever since then we have made the same 
excuse. It did show a sad want of courage in 
Adam, and I am sorry everybody takes after him. 
For, if any one does wrong, people say it is the 
old Adam in him. So we blame Adam, and 
Adam blamed Eve, and we all go on forever 
blaming any one but ourselves, who ought to 
bear the blame. 

And there is Walter! We had almost forgot¬ 
ten him! Walter thinks he is quite a man, and 


28 


SPECTACLES. 


when Peter and Mary go running by, he says, 
“ Oh ! those children they are so troublesome ! ” 
But he is a fine fellow, as we shall see; he 
has black eyes and hair, and his, father thinks he 
will make a scholar some day. We hope not! 
his father is so very learned, that we could not 
bear very well to have two like him in the family ! 

As I began to tell you, the children were 
clamorous for a holiday. The caleche was or¬ 
dered, and you see them all setting out for their 
first drive through St. Petersburg. 

The huge placards and gilded signs which 
are so common in America are not seen at all 
in St. Petersburg. But they have a represen¬ 
tation of whatever is sold in the shop hung up, 
like a picture, on the outside of it. You see 
the sign of the cake the woman is buying 
hanging over her head ; it is called “ Kaleitch.’ , 
These pictures delighted the children. 

“ 0 Mary ! ” Peter shouted, “ there are some 
gold spectacles, larger than those on the cover 
of your new book. Look! Mary, look ! ” as 
they passed the shop of an optician. 

“And see that bear! — 0 mamma! see that 
bear! Do they sell bears there ? ” 

“ No,” said Walter, composedly, “ it is a fur 
store: look at the sables! ” with a little silent 
contempt. 


THE SHOPS 


29 



“ And there is a fine -ox, almost as handsome 
as Uncle John’s Star and Bright. I wonder how 
they would like to have their pictures taken, and 
hung up as a show,” said Peter, in delight. 

“They would not take a picture of them,” 
said Walter, grandly. “ The idea of a picture 
of a cow ! ” 














30 


SPECTACLES. 


“ You are mistaken, my boy ; there are some 
very celebrated pictures of them. Some by Paul 
Potter, and others by Rosa Bonlieur, who took 
great delight in painting animals. You can see 
the dew about the mouth, and almost fancy you 
can see them breathe.” 

“ I believe the animals do look just the same 
here, — and so do the children! ” said little 
Peter. 

“ Children are the same naughty things all 
over the world,” said Walter, laughing. 

“ And mamma,” screamed Peter in delight, 
“ just hear that boy laugh; he did not laugh in 
Russian.” 

But we all laughed at Peter, who felt quite 
ashamed ; and could not understand that he had 
said anything funny. 

“ What was it, papa ? ” he said, timidly. “ I 
was so glad to hear him laugh! It sounded so 
exactly like a country boy at home; he is a peas¬ 
ant, I know by his dress, and his sandals made 
of bark.” 

“ It is always refreshing to hear a good hearty 
laugh! It is reviving, Peter ; I agree with you ; 
and where we hear so much Russ spoken, that 
we cannot yet understand, I think it is de¬ 
lightful to hear the universal language of old 
Mother Nature.” 


THE SHOPS. 


31 


“ Old Mother Nature’s language is all he 
knows,” said Walter; who was a little proud 
of his knowledge of French, — though he had 
not yet had occasion to use it, to see how little 
he knew! 

“ It is all I need to know, papa; they all laugh 
and cry, just as we do, — and if I am hungry, I 
can tell you” said the philosopher Peter. 

“ That is right. Make the best of it, my boy. 
Now look at that picture of a lady having her 
hair dressed; and there is another fainting.” 

“ Are they killing her ? ” said Peter, half 
alarmed. 

“ 0 no! it is a surgeon with a lancet; and 
there are the barber with his razor, and a hair¬ 
dresser with his curling-irons, each intently en¬ 
gaged going on with his own pursuit, unheeding 
the rest.” 

“ That is in character,” said Mrs. Hamilton, 
4 4 drawn according to life; it could not be 
better.” 

44 And there is a party seated at a tea-table,” 
said Walter. 44 That is a coffee-house. Look 
at the cups and saucers! And each person 
seems to be talking; and they look so smiling, 
it would attract some lonely traveller, if he felt 
cold or tired.” 

Not only pictures of the articles sold, but of 


82 


SPECTACLES. 


the customers trying them on, were seen. Some 
were so well done, that our little friend Peter be¬ 
gan to tremble, and wonder if he should not be 
put in the picture too, without knowing it. 

“For you know I was in the photograph at 
home, father,” he said, anxiously, “ and I never 
knew it, till it was sent to the house.” 

“ That was because you would not keep still! ” 
said Walter, patronizingly. 

“ The shopman would not care for having my 
little boy’s picture, much as his Aunt Jeanie and 
Uncle John wished for it,” said his father. 

“ Unless you should begin to cry in English ,” 
he said, laughingly, looking at Peter’s grave 
countenance, 44 that might surprise them.” Pe¬ 
ter blushed, and looked up, consoled. 

He certainly must have thought the whole 
party would be daguerrotyped ! as the cows, 
the sheep, the bears, the hats and caps, the 
chickens,'the fine ladies at the milliner’s, with 
their bonnets and laces, the sheep at the butch¬ 
er’s, and the tea-party at the coffee-house, all 
seemed to be. 

Peter would have enjoyed it more, if he had 
been a few years older; but the continual sur¬ 
prise, the unexpectedness of everything, not only 
amazed, but bewildered him. 

The population in St. Petersburg is the most 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE SHOPS. 


83 


varied you can imagine, and the children were 
as much amused by the different costumes exhib¬ 
ited in the street, as by the sights in a show-box. 

“ Can you tell us about the different soldiers, 
papa,” asked Walter, who rejoiced in the pos¬ 
session of a new drum, and to whom the news 
of the war in America gave an interest and a 
glory to the subject. 

“It would be difficult for me to tell you; 
there are so many. There are the Caucasian 
Guards, the Tartar Guards, the Finland Guards, 
and the Cossacks of different tribes, with scarlet 
and black turbans.” 

“ What are those who are riding by now ? ” ex¬ 
claimed Walter. “ Not very handsome, I think! ” 

They were Cossacks, who hardly looked at 
them as they went by, dashing along, lance in 
hand, with dark, fierce faces. 

“ There are also gren^iers and cuirassiers; 
horse artillery and foot artillery; dragoons, lan¬ 
cers, and troops of the line. 

“ One thing you must see boys, the grand 
.review, where we have often seen 150,000 troops 
reviewed at once, and with forty bands play¬ 
ing the Russian national hymn, when the bass 
ncftes of the deepest tones are sounded by the 
firing of cannon.” 

“ Is it like music ? ” the boys asked. 


* 


34 


SPECTACLES. 


44 It is grand and solemn in the open air. 
There are some Circassians, boys! Look at 
them! ” 

The Circassians passed, and the boys remarked 
on the beauty of their glittering chain armor, 
shining like silver in the sun, and the fine 
color of their horses, groomed so well as to at¬ 
tract the attention of all travellers. 

The different regiments here have one color 
throughout, for their horses. They are either 
all black, all gray, all white, or all red; and 
then, besides, the horses of each regiment hold 
their heads, and step in a peculiar manner, as 
they are drilled; some thrusting their noses 
high in the air, as if scenting the far-off battle¬ 
field; others with theirs bent between the fore¬ 
legs, graceful and proud.” 

44 Why, father, how odd they must look!” 

“ No, my boy, it is fine ! Wait until you see 
the review, and you will be astonished at the 
accuracy and beauty of their movements. So 
many horses are killed in the training, that it 
takes away our pleasure in the wonderful sight. 
Our volunteer militia are not so accurate with 
their ‘left foot, right foot,’ as these poor dumb 
creatures are.” 

44 There is a beautiful carriage with four horses 
driving by,” said Peter, interrupting. 


THE SHOPS. 


85 


“ Then that is the carriage of a noble; they 
alone are allowed to drive with four horses; 
merchants and tradesmen can drive only two.” 

“ You forget! When one goes to be married 
he can drive with four horses,” said Mrs. Ham¬ 
ilton. 

“ 0 yes, that is amusing; I had forgotten that 
great privilege, that comes perhaps but once 
in a lifetime. And at our funeral also, we can 
ride with four horses.” 

“ We are neither merchants nor tradesmen,” 
said Peter, “ and certainly Walter and I shan’t 
be married while we are here. What can we 
ride with ? ” 

“ You can have a rocking-horse, Peter, or 
ride with papa, when he is willing,” said Walter. 

“ Peter, my dear,” said his mother, “ I under¬ 
stand you; you mean to say, as papa is neither 
of these, what privileges can he have! Ho 
must do as the rest do, only we are foreigners, 
and are allowed many privileges.” 

.“Yes,” said Mr. Hamilton; “and those we 
care more for than driving with six or eight 
horses, my boy.” 

“ Did you know that Peter the Great rode in 
a simple drosky with only two horses, and that 
since that time all the Emperors, his succes¬ 
sors, have followed his example ? We should feel 


36 


SPECTACLES. 


ashamed to have more pride than the Emperor. 
There is the Emperor; bow, my children! ” 

The children turned, and saw a kind-look¬ 
ing, handsome man, dressed in black, who had 
fine blue eyes and brown hair, and who was 
the generous Emperor, Alexander II., so dearly 
beloved by the Russians. 

Though he is a young man, they love and 
respect him as a father. 

“ What a handsome man he is! ” said Walter, 
“ and so very kind too! Do you know, if any 
peasant should ask the Emperor to be godfather 
to his child, he would certainly consent ? ” 

“ The Emperor is known to have many god¬ 
children among the peasantry,” said Mr. Ham¬ 
ilton. 

“ Do they love him as much as we do the 
President ? ” asked Peter, simply. 

His father laughed. “ My dear little fellow,” 
he said, “ imagine, for a moment, how much you 
love your father, and then fancy me so much 
your superior that you would almost feel it a 
privilege to dare look upon me.” 

“It is reverence, Mr. Hamilton, it is not 
simply love and admiration they have for him,” 
said his wife. 

“ And is he a good man ? ” asked Peter. 

“ Yes, my boy, they are all quite right to 



THE SHOPS. 


37 


revere him, as you cannot understand yet how 
to respect any one ; children cannot reverence 
rank. If you live in Russia long enough, my 
boy, you will learn to love the Emperor as we, 
do, who know his virtues.” 

“ 0 dear! ” said Mary, who had been long 
silent, gazing with open eyes and mouth at the 
wonderful sights of the city of St. Petersburg, 
“ 0 dear ! papa, there is a man right under the 
wheels ; he will be run over, — I am sure he will 
be run over ! ” 

“ Don’t*be so frightened, Mary; the man knows 
the law so well that he will not take the trouble 
to turn out sufficiently,” said Mr. Hamilton. 
“ The foot-passenger who is in the way — as if 
in scorn of the carriage in which he cannot 
ride — is to be avoided by the driver, and if, 
through his own carelessness, any accident should 
occur, the driver is sent to Siberia.” 

“ That is not fair, papa ; I would not live in 
such an unjust country,” said Walter. 

Mrs. Hamilton smiled, and replied, “ Who 
said, last night, ‘ Mamma, let us live here al¬ 
ways ’ ? ” 

“ Please look at those uniforms! ” exclaimed 
Walter, discreetly changing the subject; “ there 
seems to be a different uniform to be seen on 
every street.” 


38 


SPECTACLES. 


“ You are quite right there, Walter; it is 
said that half Russia is clad in uniform. In ad¬ 
dition to there being so many varieties worn by 
thousands of soldiers, there are civil uniforms 
for all the public officers, the police, the profes¬ 
sors of the university, and for the teachers and 
scholars in the public schools.” 

“ Also the servants, papa ; you must not 
forget them!” said Peter; “.they have very 
handsome uniforms; and all the coachmen wear 
such curious hats and broad sashes round their 
waists — and black beards — I have noticed that.” 

Walter laughed, and said he had noticed that 
too. 

“Then they have a civil and an uncivil uni¬ 
form,” said Peter. 

“No, they call the servants’ dress a livery; 
the servants are remarkably polite; indeed, all 
the Russians are noted for their courtesy. I hope 
my little Peter will improve, and lose some of his 
abruptness, in this polished country.” 

Peter began to whisper something about ice 
and polished countries ; but nobody heeded him, 
for they saw suddenly the celebrated equestrian 
statue of Peter the Great. 

“There is the person from whom you take 
your name, young man ; I beg you to follow his 
example,” said Mr. Hamilton. “What a fine 


THE STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 39 


statue it is! how admirably the artist has ar¬ 
ranged the support of the horse, in that almost 
impossible position ! Great care was required to 
preserve the equilibrium. It is the finest eques¬ 
trian statue in the world.” 



“ See that serpent under the horse’s feet ; I 
don’t like that,” said Walter. 

“The serpent is there, not only to indicate 
how Peter spurned all obstacles, but also to 
support the horse. A coil of the serpent just 
reaches the tail of the horse, and is fastened 
to it, though it hardly appears to touch it. 
There is another very ingenious arrangement 





















40 


SPECTACLES. 


of the artist. There are ten thousand pounds 
of iron cast in the tail and hind quarters of 
the horse, while there is a very trifling weight 
of bronze in the fore legs. All of which is so 
beautifully arranged, that you would not know it 
unless you were told.” 

“ There is a slight disenchantment in knowing 
it now,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“0 no! mamma,” said Walter, “I enjoy it 
more, because it shows how much science is re¬ 
quired to construct the statue. It seems so 
impossible to make a bronze horse and man 
stand in that position.” 

“ You understand the mechanical construc¬ 
tion, my boy, better than you can appreciate 
the fine action of the horse and the spirited atti¬ 
tude of the rider, or the whole execution of the 
design,” said his father. 

“ But where could the rock have come from?” 
asked Peter, whose wonder could not keep him 
silent any longer. 

“ This rock, which may have been thrown up 
in some deluge from the Swedish mountains, 
was found in the St. Petersburg morass, in a 
secluded spot, no other rock nor stones within 
miles of it, which is a remarkable fact.” 

“ How large was it, father ? ” asked Walter. 

“ When it was first found, it measured forty- 


THE STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 41 


five feet long, and thirty-five feet high. After 
they had brought it here, with great trouble and 
expense, — for it was so large they built a ship 
and a road for it, — then they made it smaller.” 

“ Why did they make it smaller, papa ? ” in¬ 
quired Peter. 

“ To form a proper pedestal for the horse ; but 
I suppose sufficient care was not taken, and the 
rock was split.” 

“ 0, what a pity ? And what did they do then , 
papa ? ” 

“ Why then they joined it together again, and 
there it is, with a crack through the centre, 
though I never have detected it myself; so now 
it is a little artificial, notwithstanding its grand¬ 
eur.” 

“ But, my dear,” said Mrs. Hamilton, “ they 
tell me all the granite cracks here, from the ex¬ 
treme frost, and that even the celebrated pillar 
of Alexander has a rent in it.” 

“ We must not dare to say that,” answered 
Mr. Hamilton; “ they think it right to deny it; 
and the flaw — or whatever it may be — has 
been so neatly cemented, that it could not be 
observed, unless a stray sunbeam should show 
the difference in polish between the rent and the 
pillar. Don’t speak of it! ” 

“ Papa has really become such a patriotic Rus- 


42 


SPECTACLES. 


sian, that he won’t let even us say a word about 
it,” exclaimed Walter, quite amused. 

“ Please, let us go and examine it now, far 
ther!” he said, in delight. 

“ 0, no, not now! — when we go to the Admi¬ 
ralty Place, where the rocking-horses are, and 
the booths, Peter, for the public amusements in 
the holidays; there we can see it best through a 
telescope. Or it looks well from the gateway 
of the Winter Palace ! It is strange to me, why 
the top of the pillar has been made so very wide 
and heavy! ” 

“ Yes ! ” said Mrs. Hamilton, “ you cannot see 
the angel holding the cross, if you should stand 
just beneath it. It might almost as well not be 
there.” 

“ My dear, what a mistake that is! ” said Mr. 
Hamilton. “ If you should see it from a distance, 
you would not think so. We ’ll all go and look at 
it some day, when we have not had so long a drive. 
Are you very tired, Peter ? You look grave for 
a little boy.” 

“ No, I’m not tired, papa; but I wanted a bit 
of that black bread I saw the peasants eating. I 
only wanted to see just how it tasted , whether it 
was at all like the brown bread we have in Amer¬ 
ica,” said Peter. 

“ Perhaps my little boy means to say, politely, 


THE STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 43 


that he is hungry,” said Mr. Hamilton, laugh¬ 
ing. “ It is really time to go home now, and 
we ’ll have another drive and a holiday soon 
again.” 

So he spoke to the black-bearded coachman, 
who did not whip his horses, but communicated 
with them dexterously by a gentle kick on the 
foot-board, and they were soon rolling along the 
wooden pavements toward home. 


CHAPTER IT. 


ALEXANDER’S COLUMN. — THE ARSENAL. 

Ip you could see our home you would be sur¬ 
prised. Like many of the houses just outside 
of the city, it is built of logs, like a Western 
cabin, and it has but one story. The roofs of 
the houses here are generally built of iron plates, 

' that are joined together and fastened to the raf¬ 
ters, and which are painted green or red, that 
gives a lively appearance to the dull landscape. 
Dull, from the pale, leaden sky, from the light 
green of the trees, and from the pale sunshine. 

One thing astonished me. We had not any 
well. And every drop of water we drank was 
brought to the house from the river Neva. To 
be sure, if you do have a well, the water is so im¬ 
pure that it cannot be drunk, and it makes you 
ill. The water of the Neva is as pure as crystal. 
It is an outlet from Lake Ladoga, and as all 
impurities are deposited in the bottom of the 
lake, the river in its short course to St. Peters¬ 
burg does not collect others. And about our 
washing, — as we have no water, and as we do not 


ALEXANDEK’S COLUMN. 


45 


send it to England to be done, as our grand 
neighbor does, who thinks it is worth the trouble, 
— we have to send it to the Neva. Even if the 
river is frozen, there is a hole cut in the ice for 
the washerwomen, with their troublesome work. 

I did not expect to tell you even about our 
washing-day, though I want you to know every¬ 
thing, even about the baby. He has just fallen 
asleep on his pillow, for they do not approve 
of cradles here, or even of carrying the child 
in your arms; so we hold him on a pillow, and 
that keeps his head straight. I think the other 
children are more likely to have their heads 
turned than the baby, — for there is little Peter 
asking his mother what she knows about the 
Column of Alexander, and her not being able 
to see the figure of a woman, if she stood be¬ 
neath it. 

“ What did they have a woman there for ? ” 
he inquired. 

Mrs. Hamilton did not heed him; the baby 
was half awake, and she beckoned to Peter to 
peep at him, just to keep Peter quiet you know. 
There the two children are looking like a picture. 

Peter was too full of fun to keep still long; 
he peeped at the baby from behind the pillow, 
and touched his little feet, whispering: “ Just 
like a row of little shells, mother! And look 


46 


SPECTACLES. 


at his round fist! He ’d like to knock a fellow 
down if lie knew how to do it. And there, see 
him smile, mother ! Do yon suppose those little 
things know enough to dream ? I wonder if 
it still remembers some of the things it saw 
way up in heaven, where it came from. I don’t 
believe the angels are any prettier than he is. 
He seems as if he was listening to music. Now 
do let him sleep on, and tell me about the 
Column of Alexander! ” 

“It is your father, my boy, who knows all 
about it,” she answered. 

“ But you know too, mamma, because you said 
you could not see the woman; and what did 
they have a woman up there on a column for ? ” 

“ My dear Peter, you are quite mistaken! I 
have not said anything about it, that I can recol¬ 
lect. I must be very careful and not be a critic, 
if I have a little boy who does not exactly re¬ 
member what I say.” 

“ Will you please tell me something about 
it?”-he answered, meekly. 

“ Yes ! I will tell you about it, if you will 
repeat what I say correctly to Walter. It was 
erected in honor of the Emperor Alexander, 
though his statue is not placed on it, as you 
think it ought to be.” 

“ What is the woman on it for ? ” asked Peter 
again. 


ALEXANDER’S COLUMN. 


47 


“ That is meant for an angel, my child, that 
holds a cross in her hand. It means to show 
the strength of their religion, which the French, 
in their attack under Napoleon, could not sub¬ 
due.” 

“ Don’t they call women angels sometimes, 
mother ? ” 

Mrs. Hamilton was puzzled by the quaint child¬ 
ish question. 

“ I should be sorry to think so, Peter, for they 
are very far from it usually.” 

“ My mamma is not very far from it,” he 
answered. For, to every child, his own mother 
is the highest idea of goodness. Let the mothers 
remember it. 

“ Then what did they have an angel there 
for, mamma ? ” 

“ When the Emperor Napoleon attacked Rus¬ 
sia, and when Moscow was burnt to prevent the 
French entering it, then the Russians thought 
their religion, as well as their country, was at¬ 
tacked. This column, which is made of Turk¬ 
ish cannon, — even the pedestal and ornaments 
of it, — is meant to perpetuate the victory of 
Russia over all its enemies, whether they are 
Turks, French, or any other nation. They are 
very fond of the Americans, Peter, which is quite 
pleasant for us! ” 


48 


SPECTACLES. 


“And we Americans like them very well,” 
he answered with dignity. 

“ But how high did papa say the column 
was ? ” he asked, with renewed curiosity. 

“ It is about eighty feet high.” 

“ What! with the angel and the cross and 
all; is not it any higher than that. Is that 
very high ? ” 

“ Why, yes, my child ; with the angel on the 
summit, and the pedestal on which it stands, it 
is one hundred and eighty feet high,” said Mrs. 
Hamilton. 

“ Are there any other handsome monuments, 
mamma ? ” 

“ Yes; but some other day, when we are 
driving out, you can hear about them, and see 
the fine gateways. One is built in honor of the 
Emperor Alexander, when he returned in tri¬ 
umph from Paris. When he passed through it, 
it was built of plaster and wood, as all monu¬ 
ments are made at first, and afterwards it was 
completed, and finished in stone and metal. 
It has Russian inscriptions on it, but you can¬ 
not read even the letters. It has statues of 
old Russian warriors in niches, and the Goddess 
of Victory in a car drawn by galloping horses, 
and she seems to be advancing to meet the Em¬ 
peror and present a laurel wreath to him. There 


CRONSTADT. 


65 


“ Our driver, having partaken of his glass of 
schnaps and a piece of black bread, and we, hav¬ 
ing made ourselves comfortable over the fire, 
again started, and arrived in safety in about two 
hours after leaving St. Petersburg, a distance of 
some seventeen miles. Our driver told us that 
wolves were not unfrequently seen crossing the 
ice from shore to shore, but we saw none.” 

“ I hope not! ” whispered little Mary, with j? 
shiver. 

“We entered the Mole of Cronstadt,” Mrs. 
Hamilton continued, without heeding the inter¬ 
ruption, “by the same entrance which admits 
merchant-ships at any time of tide. It is capa¬ 
ble of holding one thousand vessels, and adjoins 
the Admiralty Mole, or Naval Depot, where the 
Russian men-of-war mostly winter.” 

“ I am glad he told us what kind of a mole it 
was,” said Peter. “ I did not know.” 

“ Our host received us very kindly,” read 
Mrs. Hamilton, not listening to Peter, “and 
after viewing the town, ‘ a deserted village’ 
in winter, but a perfect beehive in summer, 
we were called to dinner, which was well served, 
and to which ample justice was done. The Em¬ 
peror’s health being drunk, and the double¬ 
headed eagle toasted,—as well as the eagle with 
one head, — Jerry remarked that he hoped, in 


66 


SPECTACLES. 


the eagle’s annual flight to Boston, that he 
would feather the nest of his Uncle Robert, who 
is a Russian merchant.” Here Mrs. Hamilton 
smiled, but the children looked puzzled ; and she 
read on : “ I replied, that formerly eighty Amer¬ 
ican vessels had entered Cronstadt in a single 
season, but now the number is reduced to twenty, 
or even less. 

0 “ On recrossing the ice of the Mole, on our re¬ 
turn, we discovered that, in order to preserve the 
ships from injury, the ice around them is daily 
cut and removed. So that water flows between 
the ship and the thick ice, while she is held fast 
by the stem and stern-post only. Cronstadt is 
the seaport or port of entry and of export. 
Here all, vessels drawing over nine feet of water 
discharge their cargoes into lighters, which are 
sent to the St. Petersburg custom-house, though 
previously an entry is made, on arrival of the ship 
and her cargo at Cronstadt, and all outward car¬ 
goes are sent down to Cronstadt from St. Peters¬ 
burg by lighters. However, vessels drawing less 
than nine feet of water are enabled to cross the 
bar, which is six miles from St. Petersburg, and 
proceed with their cargoes, inward or outward, 
to and from the city. 

“ Cronstadt, from her immense and formidable 
fortresses, may be called the Gibraltar of the 


CRONSTADT. 


67 


North. These fortresses are built of solid blocks 
of granite, of prodigious strength and durability. 
During the late war between Russia and England, 
the combined fleets of England and France left 
the English Channel to test the strength of Cron- 
stadt; and Admiral Napier said, on the Queen’s 
visit to the fleet, just before it sailed for the 
Baltic, that he should breakfast at Cronstadt and 
dine at St. Petersburg on the same day.” 

44 And did he do it ? ” asked Peter, eagerly. 

44 No. And Lord Clarendon said, 4 No man is 
answerable for after-dinner speeches,’ and so it 
proved ; for after inspecting the formidable array 
of these impregnable works, the fleet never ap¬ 
proached nearer than five miles for two successive 
seasons of threatened attack. 

44 The English made themselves quite merry, 
some years since, over Admiral Howe, for his un¬ 
successful cruise after the French fleet, saying, 
4 Lord Howe he goes out, Lord Howe he comes 
in ’; and now they are laughing at Napier, who 
sailed up the Baltic and — sailed down again.” 

44 Is that all he says, mamma ? Does he not 
say that he is coming home?” asked Walter, 
gravely. 

44 No, my dear, you know papa never writes 
about himself.” 

44 He might at least say that he is well,” said 


68 


SPECTACLES. 


Peter, a little vexed at the long, serious letter 
inflicted on hirft, when he hoped to have some¬ 
thing amusing from papa. 

“ He writes just like a book,” said Mary, inno¬ 
cently. 

“ Yes; we might read it in any book,” said 
Peter. “ I don’t like such letters.” 

“ Yery well, my dears; if your father takes 
the trouble to write all this information for you, 
and you do not care about hearing it, I can tell 
him not to send any more letters to you.” 

“ 0 no, mamma, don’t tell him! we do like 
to hear them ! ” 

I did not blame the children, for James might 
have made his journey more amusing; not that 
he could help there being no incidents beyond 
his taking up the old woman and carrying her 
on the sledge, (which he told us on his return,) 
but he need not have said so much* about the 
fortresses and the Mole ; he must have known 
you children would not like it. 

“ There is still another strange-looking man 
coming to the house to-day,” said Mrs. Hamil¬ 
ton, looking up from reading her letter ; “ there 
must be some reason for their flocking here; 
there must be something going on, some new 
custom of the country,” she said, doubtfully. 
“ Peter, you had better go and see what it means. 
I wish your father was here ! ” 


CRONSTADT. 


69 



Peter returned, in high spirits. “ It is only a 
travelling glazier, mamma ! ” he said ; “ he wants 
to know if we have any broken windows.” 

“ Now, Peter, did you understand him ? There 
could be no reason for his wanting to know 
whether our windows were broken, (unless he 
wants to enter one,) ” she thought to herself. 
“ What is that ladder on his back ? ” she asked. 

“ That is where he carries the glass, madam,” 
said a servant, entering ; “he came here to 
attend the Palm-Sunday Fair, and wishes to 




70 


SPECTACLES. 


know if you require his services at the house, 
first.” 

“ Certainly not,” she said, dismissing the ser¬ 
vant. “ We should be frozen in our beds if we 
had broken windows at this time of year ! I do 
wish they would have anything like home! 
Here are travelling mechanics seen with a pack 
on their back, like a vagabond, and in America 
the same man would be driving out in a chaise, 
one of our respectable citizens.” 

“ It is the custom, mamma,” said Peter ; 
“they bring everything to the house, or sell 
things in the street.” 

“ That must be owing partly to the floating 
population ; it must be to accommodate the peo¬ 
ple, who are always coming to the city.” 

“ What are they floating on ? ” said Mary. 

“ Hush, Mary; it is because the city is built 
over the water,” said Peter, patronizingly. 

“You are both wrong,” said their mother. 
“ The floating population means the changing 
of the inhabitants, who are mostly foreigners, 
and who come here for a few years, and are suc¬ 
ceeded by others, who take their places as citi¬ 
zens of St. Petersburg.” 

“ Then I am floating,” said Mary, jumping 
around the room; “ I don’t mean to stay here 
many years.” 


CRONSTADT. 


71 


“ They say the Louse Market is for the accom¬ 
modation of foreigners,” said Peter. 

“ My dear! ” said Mrs. Hamilton, gravely. 

“ Why, mamma, I thought you would not 
want me to speak Russ, and say ‘Voshevoi 
ruinok” to you. There are two immense mar¬ 
kets, and nearly five thousand booths and stalls, 
where you can buy everything.” 

“ Everything, Peter ? Be reasonable, my son.” 
“ Yes, everything, mamma. Mr. Peyser said 
that a North American Indian or a Russian peas¬ 
ant-bride could be dressed from top to toe there, 
and well dressed too ! ” 

“ I should like to see this wonderful place.” 

“ 0 no, mamma! it is not a nice place for 
you ; it is so full of Jews and foreigners, and 
some of the aisles between the booths are so 
dark and dismal! ” 

“ How came you there, Peter ? ” 

“ Walter and I went to see the place. There 
is everything to be seen there. There are fruit- 
shops, and booths with pqrfumery, and for graven 
images, and for artificial flowers. But what we 
liked best were the wooden booths with open 
fronts, where birds were sold. There were swans, 
larks, bulfinches, and singing birds of all kinds.” 
u Why did not you bring some home ? ” asked 


72 


SPECTACLES. 


44 How could I ? There were tame pigeons 
there; the pigeon is called a sacred bird, and is 
so tame that you can catch it in your hand.” 

44 Why is it sacred ? ” asked Mary. 

44 1 can’t tell,” said Peter; 44 it is enough to 
know that , is not it ? ” 

44 It is because the Holy Ghost took the form 
of a dove,” said Mrs. Hamilton, 44 and so the 
Russians never eat it, and always take care of it, 
and cherish it as sacred.” 

44 What queer people they are! ” said Peter. 
44 Are they so very good ? ” 

44 We cannot judge of that,” said his mother. 
44 You may take Mary to walk with Francois, 
and be sure that you do not go to the-mar¬ 

ket with the long name ! ” 

44 The 4 Voshevoi ruinok,’ mamma.” 

44 Yery well; you know what I mean. What 
shall I do with that boy, he is learning to talk so 
fast ? ” 

Peter looked in at the door, laughing again, 
and said, 44 Mamma, I. will tell you what to do 
with him! Let him go to the Palm-Sunday 
Fair! ” 

44 Do you want to go to a fair on Sunday, 
Peter ? ” 

44 Why, mamma, it is on three days of the 
week before Palm Sunday, and on Saturday 



THE ARSENAL. 


57 


should ever require it to be done, the Emperor 
could stay at home, and give directions to his 
people how to carry on a war, and what place 
was to be attacked first, and what would be im¬ 
pregnable.” 

“ That is more alarming than the two-headed 
Russian eagle you told me about. How little 
we have known of this nation, and how powerful 
and accomplished it is ! ” 

“ And in another room,” said Peter, “ we saw 
the war-horse of the Empress Catherine, that had 
been stuffed ; and there it stood, all saddled and 
bridled, — but it was not a side-saddle, mamma.” 

“ Catherine was a great general, my son, and 
I suppose she wished to appear like one, even on 
horseback. I think a statue would be in better 
taste than a stuffed horse.” 

“ Did not I mention the statue, mamma ? 
There was a statue there, too, on a throne, with 
all the emblems of — what was it Gospodin 
said, Walter ? ” 

“With all the emblems of imperial power,” 
Walter answered, with dignity. 

“0, yes! the emblems of imperial power,” 
Peter repeated. 

“It is a very strange thing to have the 
horse stuffed, and preserved as a curiosity. 
And not even a side-saddle on him, to look 

3 * 




58 


SPECTACLES. 


womanly, and to show it belonged to lier. It 
is all very strange to me, and the customs of 
the country are very perplexing,” said Mrs. 
Hamilton, with a sigh. 

But the boys ran out to see more wonders, and 
the baby awoke with a little cry. And you never 
saw a real Russian baby! He looks just as you 
did once, and eats and laughs and sleeps and 
cries just as you do now, — only you hoped I 
did not know about the crying! 


CHAPTER V. 


CRONSTADT. 

“ 0 mamma, mamma, here is a blind harper 
at the window! I have read of them in my 
story-books, but I never saw one before. Peter, 
come and see him, ,, exclaimed Mary. 

Peter hastened to the window, and ran out to 
speak to him, in his language of mixed Russ 
and English; for children are never afraid to 
talk; if they do not know the language spoken, 
they will make one of their own, till they are 
understood. 

“ Where did you come from ? ” asked Peter, 
civilly. 

The blind man heard him, and shook his 
head, saying: 

“ Ne penni mi! ” 

“What is that? he wants a penny, Mary,” 
said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ 0 no, mamma ! that means he does not un¬ 
derstand what Peter says. Why can’t he speak 
in Russ to him ? ” she added, in vexation at Pe¬ 
ter’s want of thought. 


60 


SPECTACLES. 



“ Ask him to come here, Peter; I want to see 
him,” she said. 

“ Ask him yourself, if you can,” said Peter, 
sullenly. 

“Padyum te, Gospodin,” Mary said, smil¬ 
ingly. The blind man heard and understood 
the request, and came slowly towards the win¬ 
dow. 



CRONSTADT. 


61 


“Why don’t you ask him to play, Mary, if 
you can talk so much ? and why did you say 
‘ Gospodin ’ to an old beggar ? ” said Peter, 
roughly. 

“ 0 Peter, don’t! what if he should under¬ 
stand you! ” she said, in distress. 

44 What is the matter, my children ? ” said 
Mrs. Hamilton, not understanding the discus¬ 
sion, and wondering, in her bewilderment, wheth¬ 
er the harper or the Russ was the cause of the 
trouble. 

“ Mary is calling the old beggar a gentleman, 
mamma,” answered Peter, proudly. 

“I did not hear anything of the kind, my 
dear, and if she did, it was very polite in little 
Mary.” 

“ I only said 4 Gospodin,’ mamma. I did not 
like to say, 4 Come here, you,’ because he was 
blind, and we ought to be very good to him, for 
God takes care of him. Nurse says he takes 
care of all who cannot take care of them¬ 
selves.” 

44 Nurse gives you wise instruction, little one ; 
will you give the harper something to eat ? ” her 
mother replied, kindly. 

44 0 yes, mamma; and just listen ! he is play¬ 
ing 4 Home, sw§et home,’ — only think of their 
knowing that, ’way out here ! ” 


62 


SPECTACLES. 


u Ah ! that is prettier than the strange Russian 
music they have in the churches ; that is so mo¬ 
notonous,said Mrs. Hamilton, “ that I cannot 
learn to like it.” 

“ Only boys sing in the churches,” said Peter ; 
“ that is amusing ; I should like that fun ! ” 

“ You very naughty boy, Peter,” exclaimed 
Mary. 

“ You must speak Russ and learn Latin first,” 
said his mother, gravely. 

Peter, knowing that was a requisite of which he 
had not thought before, gave up his idea of learn¬ 
ing to chant; and led the old harper away to 
find some refreshment among the servants, where 
he could be understood. Even among the ser¬ 
vants you will find French, Russians, Germans, 
or Swedes, and these different languages spoken; 
for servants travelling with their masters acquire 
a foreign tongue with great facility. Our best 
interpreter was an Irishman, and without him we 
should have been in sad perplexity at times, 
when James was absent on business. 

Peter soon came running back with a letter 
that Francois had brought; and the children sat 
down to hear it read aloud. Shall we look over 
their shoulder and read it ? It is not rude to 
do that in a book. It was from James, — from 
Mr. Hamilton, as we call him now, — and it be- 


CRONSTADT. 


68 


gan in this way, after leaving out the date and a 
few words you would not care for. 

“ My dear Wife and Children, — When Jerry 
and I were invited by the American Vice-Consul 
to visit Cronstadt, we started on this fine winter 
morning, driving three horses abreast in a com¬ 
fortable caleche over the ice of the Neva. We 
had hardly left the village when our driver ran 
over or knocked down an old woman. He be¬ 
came quite excited, as the punishment is very 
severe; not unfrequently sending the unfortu¬ 
nate driver to Siberia.” 

“ Is that a dreadful place ? ” asked Mary, 
interrupting the reading of the letter. 

“0 no,” said Walter; “they have shops and 
everything nice there; there are good towns, 
and people work at their trades and grow rich.” 

“ But they can’t come back here; it is better 
to have your liberty than it is to grow rich and 
have to stay away from home,” replied Peter. 

“ It is the separation from our friends that is 
the painful part of it,” said Mrs. Hamilton; 
“ and they forget us after being away so long. 

Poor Mrs.-saved enough money to go to her 

husband, who had been sent to Siberia, and when 
she arrived she found him quite rich and happy, 
and married to some one he met there, and that 
she was forgotten entirely. So she came home 
again.” 



64 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Is that true, mamma ? ” 

46 Quite true,” she replied. 

44 Let us hope none of us will be sent there,” 
said Peter. 

44 There is no fear of that,” said Walter; 44 they 
would not notice us enough. What else did 
papa write ? ” 

44 If you will not attend, I cannot read to you,” 
said his mother. 44 Your father says, it is sur¬ 
prising so few accidents occur, as they never use 
blinders or bells here, but that the drivers are 
very expert, dashing along at 4 top speed.’ To 
use his own words,— 

44 No sooner had we cleared the suburbs, than 
it began to snow, and if it had not been for the 
ringing of a bell occasionally, from the different 
stands for the guidance of travellers in keeping 
the road, and for the fir-trees which were placed 
there, and lined the way, we should have lost 
it entirely, for it continued to snow ‘faster and 
faster.’ Our driver, however, who is an old 
stager, in about one hour arrived at the half-way 
house on the Neva. The hotel is built of wood 
upon the ice, and is about midway between 
Cronstadt and the city; it is well kept, well 
warmed, and tolerably well patronized; and 
where refreshment for man and beast is to be 
had ; and is very well for a floating hotel and 
population. 









































































































































































































































































































































































































































































ALEXANDER’S COLUMN. 


49 


is another handsome gateway on the road to 
Moscow, that we shall see when we go there. 
This one is on the western side of Russia.” 

“ Of course it would be, because it was built 
when the Emperor was returning from France, 
and he would come that way! ” said Peter, 
grandly. “ But why do they have that ugly 
eagle with two heads on everything Russian, — 
it’s so black and cross-looking ? ” he asked. 

“ Why do we have the American flag on ev¬ 
erything, and the American eagle? It is be¬ 
cause it is the symbol of our country, — our 
coat of arms, we call it.” 

“ But ours is the handsomest! Ours is a real 
eagle, not a two-headed, unnatural thing, like 
the Austrian and the Russian one.” 

“ Just ask Feodor which he thinks is the hand¬ 
somest, and he will tell you the eagle with two 
heads is twice as handsome as the one you ad¬ 
mire so much. Run and ask him! ” 

Peter ran off in a hurry, and returned, saying, 
“ I had to get Francis to ask for me, because I 
could not make him understand; but Feodor 
really thinks that horrid old black eagle with 
two heads, holding a ball and sceptre in his 
claws, is much more grand and imposing than 
our fine American eagle. There was one on the 
United States coin that I showed him. He 


VOL. II. 


3 


50 


SPECTACLES. 


laughed, and pointed to the Russian eagle. 
And then I showed him my American flag,— 
red, white, and blue; but he thought the Rus¬ 
sian one, with the dingy colors was finer still. I 
shall let him look at my book of stamps, with 
the flags of all nations in it, and see if he still 
thinks the Russian flag is the handsomest.” 

“ And I think the Greek flag is the handsom¬ 
est, really, Peter!” 

u Why, mother! Not handsomer than the red, 
white, and blue ! And while they are losing so 
many lives to keep that flag! I heard father say 
so! ” he exclaimed, in distress. 

“ It is for the principles of which the flag is 
the symbol, my son. Freedom and liberty for 
all on the soil! It is not for the flag alone.” 

“ Then perhaps it is not really that old, ugly 
eagle, with his two heads, that Feodor cares for, 
but for the principles of the old eagle, — and of 
the Emperor, who has been freeing the serfs.” 

“ My dear, little Feodor has not the means of 
understanding these subjects as well as we do. 
But the devotion of the Russians to their Em¬ 
peror is unbounded. Some years ago, when 
there was a great rebellion and confusion, and a 
crowd in the streets, one of the Emperors dis¬ 
mounted and walked quietly along; then every¬ 
thing was still, as by magic.” 


THE ARSENAL. 


51 


“ I mean to hear what Feodor has to say to my 
flags, mamma, and then I will come in and tell 
you.” 

A little while afterwards, he came running 
back with Walter, and said, breathlessly, — 

“ Mamma, what do you think I have seen ? 
Feodor wanted me to go with him to the new 
Arsenal, — they let us go in, — and what do you 
think we saw ? — besides all the cannon and 
cannon-balls piled up in great pyramids in the 
entry! — and Feodor was so proud of the ugly- 
looking thing! ” 

“ What was it ? Really, Walter, you must not 
let that child run about so, alone.” 

“ I was not alone ; no indeed, mamma ! Gos- 
podin Peyser took us there, to the Arsenal.” 

“ Gospodin Peyser! Please speak English to 
me, my dear. Say Mr. Peyser.” 

“ I forgot! I will, mamma. Well, Mr. Peyser 
took us to the new Arsenal, and there was a 
monstrous great Russian eagle there; and what 
do you suppose he was made of ? ” 

u How can I guess ? Perhaps of feathers.” 

“ No! Guess again.” 

“ Of fur.” 

“ An eagle of fur! No indeed! ” 

“ Well, — of a black bear-skin.” 

“ Is not that fur, mamma ? No indeed ! You 
don’t guess well.” 


52 


SPECTACLES. 


“Ask Walter; perhaps he can tell you.” 

“ No, he never could guess, mamma! It was 
made entirely of implements of war. Now, 
you need not laugh at my long words, be¬ 
cause you used them yourself, first, you know. 
Well, the neck and body, and even the legs of 
the eagle, were made of gun-flints; the long 
feathers of its wings were of swords; the small 
feathers on its breast were daggers; every tail- 
feather was a yataghan; and his eyes — what 
were his horrid eyes, do you think ? — the muz¬ 
zles of two black pistols ; and his throat was the 
bore of a cannon.” 

“That was a frightful eagle, indeed; and 
enough to warn us, foreigners, to beware of 
offending the Russian eagle.” 

“ What else did you see there ? Were there 
other symbols of that kind ? ” she inquired. 

“ 0 yes! and all arranged in some fanciful 
manner,” said Walter, “like ornamental flow¬ 
ers or fruit. We counted eight hundred new 
cannon there.” 

“ And there were other ‘implements of war,’ ” 
said Peter, “ those that belonged to some other 
countries. Did you see that stuffed cotton ar¬ 
mor, belonging to a Chinaman, Walter? Why, 
a fellow must look like a stuffed pillow in that 
armor, and not a bit frightful! He would be 
too stout even to run.” 


THE ARSENAL. 


53 


“ Is that the way you would fight, Peter ? You 
say, ‘ able to run.’ ” 

“ No; I said the Chinaman would be too 
heavy to run; for they are such cowards they 
are always ready to. And they think other na¬ 
tions are as timid as they are; so they have 
frightful masks, with fearful-looking faces, to wear 
in battle, in front of the army.” 

“ Did not they frighten you, then ? ” 

“ Frighten me ! no indeed! That Japanese 
Turtle, Walter, was the strangest.” 

“ I did not see any,” said Walter. “ O yes,” 
he exclaimed, “ I know what you mean, now; it 
was the armor of the Japanese Guards, made of 
tortoise-shell, joined together in scales. It had 
a dreadful-looking head like a dragon on it. That 
was enough to frighten a Chinaman.” 

“ But it would not frighten a nation less timid, 
mamma. Did any other people fight in that 
way, by trying to frighten the enemy ? ” 

“ The ancients had cats in front of the army.” 

“ 0, what a silly way to go to battle ! ” 

“ The Persians, under Cambyses, went to bat¬ 
tle with a row of cats in front of the army; 
and so they invaded*Egypt without resistance, 
because the Egyptians considered these sacred 
animals.” 

“ What! horrid, unmusical creatures! I did 


54 


SPECTACLES. 


not suppose such things were known in ancient 
times. Marcher! ” he cried out, “ is that where 
your Russian name came from ? ” 

44 What did you call her ? ” said Walter. 

44 Why, have you not heard Lena calling out 
to the baby: 4 Etta marcia tarn ! 9 (There’s the 
pussy!) ” 

44 1 thought she was swearing a little ; I am 
never surprised at anything,” said Walter, with 
dignity. 

44 0, he is, mamma. Walter was amazed when 
we saw the different rooms in the new Arse¬ 
nal, where every Emperor and Empress had a 
separate apartment devoted to them, and where 
everything they formerly used was preserved; 
with the uniforms worn at that time, and the 
weapons then used in war.” 

44 That must have been worth seeing. Was 
there a room for Peter the Great ? ” she asked. 

44 0 yes ! Why, we saw a Russian kneeling 
and crossing himself before a picture of Peter! 
They ought to worship him.” 

44 1 should think they did, my dear! ” said 
Mrs. Hamilton, smiling. 44 What else did they 
have belonging to Peter ? ” 

44 The pike which Peter carried when he went 
as volunteer in his own army. How grand that 
was in him! ” said Walter. 


THE ARSENAL. 


55 


“ I am glad he was promoted,” said Peter. 

“ But even he was not promoted till he had 
earned promotion by his courage,” Walter an¬ 
swered. “ There is one fine anecdote of Alex¬ 
ander, mamma. In the apartment where Alex¬ 
ander’s things are, there are as many as sixty 
different orders, but there is one he would not 
accept, because he had not deserved it for his 
great deeds. It is only given for gaining a great 
victory, or for a series of battles to preserve the 
country.” 

“ He gained one great victory,” said their 
mother. 

“ What was that, mamma ? They say ho refused 
the order, though the Senate granted it to him.” 

“ The victory over himself! ” she answered. 

“ Well, that is the greatest victory any one can 
gain ; but then you know we never have medals 
for that kind of a victory, and often nobody 
knows it.” 

“ I think there is some fun in that,” said Pe¬ 
ter. “ How nice it was in Peter the Great, when 
the shipmaster in Holland ordered him about 
and scolded him, he did not say, ‘ I am a great 
Emperor,’ but he went about his work quietly; 
how he must have laughed to himself! We saw 
his leather shirt to-day, that he wore when ho 
was in the ship-yard.” 


56 


SPECTACLES. 


“And his uniforms when he was a captain 
and sergeant,” said Walter; “but I did not see 
any drummer’s uniform.” 

“ But did you see that splendid one belonging 
to a general who was shot through the heart in 
a revolt. I cannot remember the long name ; 
but the Emperor has ordered the uniform of 
any very distinguished soldier to be preserved 
in a public place.” 

“Were there many of them to be seen?” she 
asked. 

“ Many! O no, mamma, — very few have 
been preserved; it is such a very great honor, 
that there have not been many brave enough to 
deserve it yet. But I saw something in another 
room I thought worth seeing. It was the silver 
shields belonging to the Turks, and the flags of 
different nations.” 

“ I did not see those,” said Walter; “ I was 
looking at the keys of the fortresses taken by the 
Russians. They were Turkish and Persian, and 
some others; and near every bunch of keys there 
was a picture of the city surrendered.” 

“That was very interesting,” said their mother. 

“ Mamma, father told us the Russians have 
most accurate models of their fortresses in wood, 
and descriptions of the Dardanelles, and of all 
the fortifications they own ; and that if anything 

A ** & Gf 


/ 


CRONSTADT. 


73 


there will be a great procession. May we go to 
see it, Mary and I, with Francois ? ” 

“ Yes, you may go, if you will promise to be 
very good and quiet. And, Peter, you must tell 
Walter about it, and ask him to gc, too.” 

u Yes, mamma, hut I know Walter will not 
wish to go.” 

It was true. Walter would not go ; he was 
too busy poring over his Ancient History, and 
the size of Xerxes’ army, to care about such 
child’s play as the Palm-Sunday Fair. Was he 
not foolish ? For History only tells us of things 
that are past and gone, and we can learn so much 
by looking around, and seeing things that happen 
now; and these very things will be history to 
the boys that live after us, and as interesting as 
the war of the Revolution to you. 


VOL. II. 


4 


CHAPTER VI. 


PALM-SUNDAY FAIK. — THE NAVY. 

Palm-Sunday Fair is to the little Russians 
what the Christmas holiday is to the children 
here. They expect beautiful gifts, and they re¬ 
ceive them, too. The cook makes fanciful cakes 
and sugar images. The coachman and the lackey 
make boxes of wood or paper; the friends of the 
family send in lovely palm-branches, where the 
leaves are of gold or filigree. For this is the 
Palm-Sunday Festival, that even the Emperor 
and his children attend. 

On Saturday there is a great procession, to rep¬ 
resent the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem; 
then the people go into the churches carrying 
palm-branches, and singing. The priests sprin¬ 
kle the branches and the people with holy water, 
and give them a blessing. Then they all go home, 
and carry their branches with them, and keep 
them as precious as gold. And they are often 
made of gold, with beautiful fruits imitated in 
wax, that are filled with costly trinkets; or of 


PALM-SUNDAY FAIR. 


75 


bare twigs with silver leaves, and with little 
angels fastened to them with blue ribbons. 

At the Palm-Sunday Fair these beautiful 
branches are sold, and so many lovely things 
that I cannot describe half of them to you. 
How could I make you believe them if I did ? 
These twigs' are brought into the city by the 
peasantry, and then they are ornamented to suit 



the fancy. A great number of natural flowers 
are brought from the hot-houses of St. Peters¬ 
burg, roses violets, and orange-flowers, for the 




76 


SPECTACLES. 


young girls, who would not feel pleased with 
artificial ones. But as for the boys, they have 
much fun and frolic by flogging each other with 
the twigs, which they do most vigorously. 

It is the custom in Russia to flog every one 
with these branches who sleeps late on Palm- 
Sunday morning; and Walter was roused by Pe¬ 
ter, calling in his ear and swinging the branch in 
triumph over him, singing a little Russian song, 
which you could not understand if I gave it to 
you. 

Walter was indignant at being roused in this 
way, and at the whipping he received. 

“ What do you mean, you sir ? ” he cried out. 

“ It is the custom of the country,” said Peter. 
“ It is only the custom of the country ; don’t be 
frightened.” 

“I’ll frighten you!” he said ; and if Mrs. 
Hamilton had not entered the room, we don’t 
know what might have happened. 

“ It is only the custom of the country, my 
dear boy,” she said, so gently, and smiled so 
oddly at Walter’s anger, that he had to laugh 
himself at the undignified position in which he 
was placed. 

“ Your father returned last night, my dear boys, 
and he means to take us to see the Winter Pal¬ 
ace and the crown-jewels, where the bouquets are 


PALM-SUNDAY FAIR. 


77 


made of precious stones, the roses of rubies, and 
the green leaves of emeralds.” 

“ That will be worth seeing,” said Walter; 
“ not those nonsensical palm-branches with silver 
angels tied on with blue ribbons, and the gold 
and silver leaves ! ” he exclaimed, in contempt. 

“ They are beautiful, my dear; and if you only 
felt the same religious fervor which animates the 
Russians, you would respect their remembrance 
of the day.” 

“ I don’t mind their caring for the day; but 
the gold and silver branches are so different from 
all the Saviour’s teachings ; the simple life he 
led, and the simple palm-branch he carried in his 
hand, are not typified by these showy branches.” 

“ These are symbols, my son, and it only shows 
their love for his memory. You are too young 
to be so severe! ” 

“ But I am not too young to think. I must 
look about, and have some knowledge of the 
customs. There is so much that is different 
from home, especially in the religious rites.” 

“ 0 dear! I hope the boy won’t have his re¬ 
ligion changed,” she thought, “ as well as his 
manners and his language. But why should 
I fear? There is the same God over us here, 
though the sky is so dark and the night comes oil 
at noonday! ” 


78 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Come in to breakfast, my boy, and see your 
father,” she said, leaving the room. 

Walter hurried down to see his father and ask 
him about Cronstadt; there were some questions 
that his mother could not answer about the 
letter. 

44 Father! Orloff tells me that Cronstadt is 
built on Kettle Island,” he said, after bidding 
his father good morning. 

44 You are in a hurry, Walter, to hear about 
it,” he said, 44 and you were late at breakfast 
this morning, I believe,” alluding mischievously 
to the whipping. 

44 It is no matter now, sir; I did not under¬ 
stand it at first,” he said ; 44 I am more interested 
in the history of the country than I am in these 
foolish customs.” 

If Walter had not had a whipping, he would 
not have thought the custom so silly, we think. 

44 You asked me about the island on which 
Cronstadt is built. It is really named Kettle 
Island, to celebrate the victory of Peter the 
Great, who drove off the Swedes from it in such 
haste that they left their great camp-kettle behind 
them, which the Russians raised on a pole as a 
trophy, and named the island, ever after, Kettle 
Island. That was in 1703.” 

44 What made Peter first think of having a 
fleet, father ? ” 


THE NAVY. 


79 


“ There was a small English sloop discovered 
at Ismailof, which was repaired by a Dutchman 
named Brand, who was Peter’s particular friend. 
In this sloop Peter sailed up and down the small 
river Yausa. In summer this river is nearly 
dry, and so the sloop was taken to a lake, where 
Peter learned to steer and set sail, and to manage 
his vessel in head-winds. He was so pleased at 
this that he determined, in 1694, to have a Russian 
fleet; two yachts were built by the Dutchman, 
who was the admiral of this fleet, and the Emperor 
was the pilot. They had two small cannon, hardly 
loud enough to be heard across the lake. But 
the little fleet made its way to the large lake of 
Peipus, and engagements took place there be¬ 
tween the Swedes and Russians, and the first flag 
taken from the Swedes, which was on Lake La¬ 
doga, was carried to Moscow and placed in the 
Kremlin in 1702. In 1719 he had a good fleet.” 

“ Had the Swedes and the Russians been ene¬ 
mies before this ? ” 

“ Yes ! For centuries the Swedes had kept 
possession of the coast; but Peter conquered 
them, and went back in triumph, and then pro¬ 
moted himself to the rank of vice-admiral.” 

“ Did not the other Emperors care so much 
about the navy as Peter did ? ” 

“ No one, since Peter, has done so much as 
Nicholas has for the Russian navy.” 


80 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Does the Empress care for it ? ” 

“ Not this Empress ; but the Empress Cath¬ 
erine II. sent ships to the Levant to protect the 
Russian interests there, and formed a fleet in the 
Black Sea.” 

“How many ships have they now, papa? I 
don’t care about what they had once, and they 
say Catherine’s vessels were not so good as those 
of Nicholas; they were so clumsy the English 
laughed at them,” said Walter; “but they did 
not fight them.” 

“ Where did you hear that ? ” 

“ I did hear so ! Papa, how many vessels are 
there now in the Russian navy ? ” 

“ I can only tell you what I have learned 
about it. That the Russian navy consists of 
850 ships of war, carrying nearly 6,000 cannon 
and manned by 50,000 men. There are 120 
gunboats, chiefly for the protection of the coast 
of Finland. There are 40 ships of the line, 
of from 60 to 120 guns, and 35 frigates.” 

“ Do they keep them all near Cronstadt ? ” 

“ It is said there are nearly two thousand can¬ 
non on the Black Sea in Russian ships of war. 
One, the largest in the Russian navy, carries 120 
guns. But there is a fine fleet on the Baltic 
belonging to the Russians, which in force and in 
size is twice as great as that of any other nation 
there.” 


THE NAVY. 


81 


“ "What is it for , father ? ” asked Peter. 

44 There is the old question, Mr. Hamilton, 
if you can answer it,” said Mrs. Hamilton, 
smiling. 

“•Well, Peter, Russia certainly has very few 
colonies to visit, except in North America, and 
some in China; nor commerce to protect, nor 
wars to fight; so we must believe they are for 
future need. The vessels wear out very fast, 
owing to the fresh water at Cronstadt.” 

“And, papa, that cutting out of the ice you 
told us about; that was dangerous,” said Walter. 
“ That does not injure the vessel, I suppose. 
Where are they built? At Cronstadt?” he 
asked. 

“ No; they are built here and at Archangel. 
I mean the hulls of the vessels are; and then 
they are carried down to Cronstadt on 4 camels,’ 
to float them over the bar.” 

44 What big ones they must be ! ” said Peter. 

44 What are they, really, father ? ” asked Walter. 

44 They are something in appearance like a mon¬ 
strous chest, with an opening in the side, large 
enough to admit the hull of a ship of the line; 
it only draws nine feet of water. This floats 
into the Admiralty dock-yard, and is filled with 
water till it sinks deep enough for the vessel’s 
hull to float into it. Then the water is pumped 

i * V 


82 


SPECTACLES. 


out again, and the 4 camel 9 and its strange 
freight float down over the bar, where it is too 
shallow for a ship, to Cronstadt.” 

44 Does it go without sails or rigging ? ” 

44 Yes, it goes to Cronstadt for that. A large 
vessel cannot float over the bar, for it draws 
twenty feet of water, and the camel only requires 
nine.” 

44 How can it sail without sails and masts ? ” 
asked Peter. 

“ What ingenious boys you are for finding 
questions ! It is towed down to Cronstadt by 
steamer. Is that enough for you to know ? ” he 
answered. 

44 Yes, sir ; until we go to the Winter Palace.” 

44 1 hope that will be to-morrow, my dear, the 
boys have been looking forward to it so long,” 
said Mrs. Hamilton. 

44 1 am sorry they will be obliged to wait; I 
had to be absent during Butter Week, and now 
the Easter ceremonies will keep us occupied.” 

44 1 did not see any more butter than we always 
have !” said Peter, in a frolic, as usual. 

44 Have not you been fasting, Peter ? Before 
the Easter Fast we have everything cooked in 
butter, and during the fast we eat nothing but 
oil.” 

44 Father says we eat, as if he meant to be a 


THE NAVY. 


83 


real Russian. I shall never learn to eat oil 
instead of solid food. I shall never starve,” 
replied Peter. 

“ That is very true, my dear,” said his mother; 
“ you certainly will not fast willingly.” 

“ Ah, Peter! your mother is laughing at you. 
I see, you are the little fellow who wanted black 
bread the first day we went to ride. Do you like 
it now ? ” 

“ I like anything, when I am hungry,” he an¬ 
swered. 

“That is sensible. We will leave the navy 
now, and see what is going on outside of -our 
windows.” 

They heard a slight noise, and baby said, 
“ Cheep chick,” which he meant for “ bird ” ; 
there was certainly music of some kind, but what 
could it be, at this time, on Sunday ? 

What do you think they saw from the window ? 
It was a dancing bear, that clumsily leaped, or 
rather shuffled his heavy feet about, as if it were 
meant for dancing to the sound of an organ. 

“ Here, Mary, come and learn to dance ! ” 
cried Peter. “ Here is the Russian style of dan¬ 
cing. I think the horses waltz better than the 
bears do. The horses dance in quadrilles, some¬ 
times.” 

“ What dreadful long stories you tell me, Pe- 


84 


SPECTACLES. 


ter. Do they, really ? I like to see the bear 
dance. What a long pole he has to hold! ” 

“ Don’t laugh at him, Mary, he might not like 
it.” 

The bear showed his teeth, in return, as Mary 
-laughed; and she suddenly retreated, thinking 
of the old story of the bears who destroyed the 
mocking children on Sunday. 

“ Don’t be frightened; we don’t have bears 
now to frighten children,” said'Peter. 

“ They are very common in Russia, Peter, and 
sometimes come very near the city. But Mary 
is too good to be frightened so easily. We shall 
not let anything harm her. Look up and laugh, 
Mary ! ” said her father. 

Mary ventured timidly to peep at the bear 
again, and we shall leave them both laughing, — 
the child and the bear. 


CHAPTER VII. 


EASTER EVE. 

“ Mamma, it is Easter Eve; shall we go with 
the Peysers to see the ceremonies at the church ? 
Papa is quite willing, if you will allow us to go,” 
said Walter, the next day. 

“ Is your father going with you ? ” 

“ 0 yes; he says he should like to see the 
ceremonies very much,” the children answered, 
in great fear that their request should not be 
granted. 

“ Walter may go ; but do you think Peter bet¬ 
ter go, Mr. Hamilton ? Mary fortunately fell 
asleep many hours since.” 

“ 0 yes, let Peter go, papa! Peter will never 
forget it as long as he lives,” said Walter. 

“ That is very true ; he may never see the cere¬ 
mony again in his life, and I hope it will do him 
good. It may soften the child into a little seri¬ 
ousness,” said Mr. Hamilton. 

“ You will take very good care of him; and 
if he should fall asleep, be sure to cover him up, 
so that he does not take cold,” said the anxious 
mother. 


86 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Does mamma suppose I am going to a great 
show like that, to fall asleep ? ” asked Peter, in 
indignation. “If I was a little boy, it would 
be a different thing; but have not I travelled 
across the water, and been in a steam-ship, and 
can’t I keep awake ? ” 

“We shall see, Peter, how much you will re¬ 
member to tell your cousins when you return to 
America.” 

“ I shall have enough to tell them; for they 
only know what time the moon comes up out of 
the sea, and whether the white-pine needles or 
the black ones are the thickest; and they like to 
strew grass-seed into the pine-cones and see it 
grow there, and to make down-balls out of 
thistles, and all such silly things ! What will 
they think of the Easter eggs, and of the swings 
we have here, where men and women fly up in 
the air in boxes ? They only have old grape¬ 
vines to swing in, or a hay-rope tied on a beam 
in the barn, for a rainy day! ” 

“ That is a long discourse, Peter; and how 
will your cousins feel at your ridiculing the 
sports you enjoyed so much last summer ? ” 

“ They seem stupid to me now, mamma.” 

“ I hope you will not like Russia so well that 
you will forget home, Peter,” said his mother. 

“ It is only the novelty, my dear,” said Mr. 


t 


EASTER EVE. 


8T 


Hamilton. “He will be glad enough to get home 
again. Come, Peter, it is time for us to go ; 
and if your mother prefers to stay at home, we 
shall feel sorry, but must try to get along without 
her.” 

“ What will they do there ? There is so much 
ceremony; I do not exactly like to see it.” 

“ In the first place,” said Mr. Hamilton, “ the 
court appears in full dress in the imperial chapel. 
The priests begin a mass, but at midnight the 
doors are opened to the interior sanctuary of 
the church , the chandeliers are lighted ; the con¬ 
gregation hold lighted tapers in their hands ; 
the song breaks forth, 6 Christohs vosskress,’ — 
Christ has risen ; at the same moment two priests 
remove the pall from a box on trestles, — to 
represent a coffin, — standing in the church, and 
which was placed there Good Friday, since when 
people have been going in and out, with much 
real devotion, to kiss the Saviour’s wounds, whose 
body it represents.” 

“ These poor peasants seem to have much 
religion,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Then the most singular part of the ceremony 
to us,” said Mr. Hamilton, “ is the kissing after 
this. The bishop gives a kiss and a blessing to 
all who approach him, saying, ‘ Christohs voss- 
kress.’ ” 


88 


SPECTACLES. 


“ And the congregation, too, mamma, kiss each 
other; every one kisses his friends and acquaint¬ 
ance, even those whom they know but little,” 
said Walter. 

“ And the priests walk through the church, 
swinging censers, and singing the same joyful 
words, 6 Christohs vosskress.’ ” 

“ Mamma,” said little Peter, “ they say the 
colonel of a regiment kisses all his officers, and 
even some of the soldiers ; that a captain kisses 
his men, and everybody kisses his friends.” 

“ And I shall kiss my little boy, if he is good.” 

Peter laughed, — he thought that would be 
no novelty. 

But Mr. Hamilton said, “If you should see 
any rockets, or hear a sound of cannon-firing, 
you must not be alarmed, because that is to be 
expected to-night, and you will like to look out 
at the illumination. All the churches will be 
lighted, inside and out, at once, and the bells 
will be rung. It is well worth seeing for the 
boys, and I have never seen it myself, yet.” 

“ Mamma,” said Walter, impressively, “ Dunia 
says the poor people carry their Easter breakfasts 
to church to be blessed, and that they are ranged 
along the aisles of the churches, and even on the 
outside of them when the aisles are full. They 
carry red eggs and pots of honey, and bread and 


EASTER EYE. 


89 


cakes ; and if one is late with his breakfast, and 
comes hurrying in, the priest waits kindly till he 
unties his napkin and displays the food to be 
blessed, then he blesses it and passes on.” 

“It is only the poor who have their food 
blessed,” said Peter. “ I remember my Sunday- 
school lesson at home, that begins, 4 Blessed are 
the poor — ’ I don’t remember the rest of it. 
Why is that, mamma ? ” 

Mamma smiled on Peter, for the thought sug¬ 
gested by the child was, that the simple food of 
the poor was more blessed than the rich man’s 
feast. 

“ The rich man has his food consecrated at 
home, my dear, and he has not, usually, so much 
belief in the importance of this ceremony,” she 
replied. 

“ What is the reason, mother ? ” 

“ Come, Peter, your mother cannot answer 
that any better than she could answer why a 
child has more faith than a man ; or why a bird 
sings in a storm, or a flower blushes in the sun. 
Don’t forget to look at the illumination ! Good 
night! ” 

So they went out; leaving Mrs. Hamilton,* 
who sat at the window and looked into the street 
below. Through the day the monks had been 
seen walking slowly by towards the churches, 


90 


SPECTACLES. 


whose domes were shining in the sun, surmounted 
by a cross. These monks, unlike those at Rome, 
wear long, flowing ltfiir, sometimes braided to 
wave in curling masses over their shoulders. 
If we could fancy we should be believed, we 
might say the monks were vain of those beauti¬ 
ful shining locks, so well brushed and curled. 
The booths in the streets were frequented by 
pedestrians, who stopped, as they were passing, 
to purchase some small article or to take some 
refreshment, to which they are cordially invited 
by the seller. These travelling-booths or restau¬ 
rants are very convenient, and certainly are very 
well patronized. 

The long, fur-lined coats of the men, almost 
reaching to their heels, and their clumsy caps, 
are so much like a disguise, that we can hardly 
tell them from the women who are buying ar¬ 
ticles at the shop on the corner of the street. 
The icicles on the roofs, and the heavy garments 
worn by the people, warn us of the still, cold 
night coming on, — night that is so cold that the 
watchman freezes at his post. There will be fires 
built in the street, before the theatres, for the 
coachmen and the police, and for the poor, who 
suffer less from cold here than they do in America. 
If we knew people were freezing to death, then 
we should have great fires at the corners of the 


EASTEK EYE. 


91 


streets, and give sheepskin coats to the poor, as 
they do in Russia. The police and the watch¬ 
men have fur-lined coats, with fur collars, pre¬ 
sented to them by the government, when winter 
approaches. 

As Mrs. Hamilton looked out, the Boudo- 
schnik, or watchman, was beneath the window, 
where he paces all through the night, occasion¬ 
ally calling out, “ Kmo udems ? ” (as you can¬ 
not read Russ, I will pronounce it for you, — 
“ Ktau eedjot ? ”) which only means, “ Who goes 
there ? ” 



He is in his winter dress, and we were so 
accustomed to seeing him there, that I hardly 
believe we should feel quite safe without him. 
Every house near us had its own watchman. 
How should you like that? It is because fires 






92 


SPECTACLES. 


are so common here ; owing to the houses being 
so heated, and many of them of wood. Now 
they are going to make St. Petersburg a city of 
stone houses, and many have been recently built. 
There is also danger from water, that overflows 
the city sometimes, owing to its situation on the 
sea-coast, and its being built on a treacherous 
marsh. So we are glad to have a watchman of 
our own. 

But we never see any beggars in the street; 
they are not allowed to enter the city ; but in 
summer, if you ride out into the country, they 
are sitting by the way-side, with the lily of the 
valley growing wild all around them. These must 
be the lilies of the field that the Saviour speaks 
of; — not the beggars, — though they toil not, 
neither do they spin, nor even beg, but silently 
cross themselves as we go by, and are grateful 
for even a kopeck. 

On Easter Eve, the monks and all the people 
in the churches hold torches in their hands, to 
be lighted all at the same moment, when the 
priests enter the churches from the inner sanc¬ 
tuary. Suddenly the illumination flashed be¬ 
fore our eyes, — the rockets went up from the 
still street below, — little Mary roused from her 
sleep as the cannon boomed, and then started 
up, frightened, crying out, — “ Where am I, 
mamma ? What is it ? Is it not night ? ” 


EASTER EYE. 


93 


“ Yes, my child ; it is Easter Eve. Yon must 
try to go to sleep again.” 

“ But I cannot sleep, mamma. I must look 
out, and see how beautiful the illumination is. 
See the domes of St. Isaac’s, glittering with pure 
gold ! And the blue domes of the Smolnoi 
Convent in the distance, that are shining like 
the sky, because the silver stars on them look 
like the stars in heaven. And look at the gold 
needle at the fortress ! ” 

“ I do not know what you mean, Mary.” 

“We children all called it the needle, when 











94 


SPECTACLES. 


we first came; it looks so exactly like a long 
gold needle ; it is the gilt spire of the Peter and 
Paul Church in the fortress, father says. It 
shines to-night brighter than ever. How much 
gold there must be in it! ” 

“ It looks like a golden mast, I think,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton. “ It is three hundred and forty 
feet high, and as slender as a pine-tree.” 

“ I wish I could be in the pine woods at home, 
mamma; or else in the Emperor’s palace,” she 
said, correcting herself. When you wish, it 
is well to wish for the best, as wishing does not 
help you. “ The Emperor’s children can eat out 
of gold and silver plates and cups. Walter says 
he saw real gold covers with emerald knobs for 
their soup-tureens. What kind of soup could 
they have to eat, mamma, when the covers of 
the dishes are made of gold, and the letters of 
the name are marked in diamonds ? How I wish 
I was an emperor’s daughter! ” 

“ Would you leave me, Mary ? ” 

“ 0 no! But if I was the daughter of an 
emperor, then you would be an empress, you 
know.” 

“ That is good reasoning, Mary. Shall I tell 
you a story about a little girl who was the daugh¬ 
ter of a queen ? ” 

“Was she just such a little girl as I am ? Don’t 


EASTER EYE. 


95 


the children of an empress or a queen look dif¬ 
ferent from other children ? Don’t they have 
golden hair, or porcelain teeth, or anything else 
strange about them.” 

“ Why, Mary, you do know better than that! ” 

“ Well, mamma, we had a story book, and in 
it the children all had golden hair and porcelain 
teeth.” 

“ Don’t you mean ivory teeth, Mary ? ” 

“ Yes, mamma, that is the same thing. And I 
thought it was because it was the queen’s daugh¬ 
ter who was described. Why should they have 
so much gold and silver and precious stones, if 
they are just exactly like other children ? I 
should think the gold would cling to them, as it 
did to King Midas’s little daughter, in my book, 
who turned all yellow, and became a gold image.” 

“ What nonsense, Mary! ” said her mother, 
laughing. 

“ Well, I should like to try it! ” said Mary. 
“ I should not be afraid. I should like to be the 
queen’s daughter only one day, just to see how 
it seems.” 

“And leave me and the baby ? ” 

“ I should not like to leave the baby long, 
mamma, because he grows so fast, and changes 
so, he would forget me soon. But as for you, 
mamma— ” 


96 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Well, my dear ! ” 

“ As for you — why ! — I think you ’d keep ! 99 

At this exhibition of touching, childish affec¬ 
tion, Mrs. Hamilton thought she would tell Mary 
a little story, which you may read, and you will 
see that all children are alike; whether it is the 
poor child, who is a beggar, or the rich one, who 
does not know what it wants. 

THE PRINCESS WHO NEVER LAUGHED. 

FROM THE GERMAN. 

Princess , Hulda was the prettiest child in the 
world, and so strong and well, that she never 
had a finger ache in her life. 

She lived with her parents in a great large 
castle, where everything was full of magnifi¬ 
cence and splendor. The walls of the chambers 
were covered with mirrors in which Hulda could 
see herself reflected a thousand times. The 
floor was studded with ducats, and lovely fig¬ 
ures of gold and silver stood on the marble 
tables. Glittering chandeliers hung from the 
ceiling, and everywhere you gazed shone gold 
and precious stones. 

The Princess Hulda had everything that heart 
could wish. So many playthings, that she did 
not know which to play with first. She had 


EASTER EVE. 


97 


so many dolls, and her dolls had so many dresses, 
that she did not know which they should wear 
first, and so she did not dress them at all. She 
had so many chambermaids to keep her baby- 
house in order, that she did not take any care 
of her playthings, and let everything stand or lie 
where it fell. 

If the weather was fine, then the princess yen* 
tured to go into the large garden which was 
behind the castle. This garden was filled with 
tall, shady trees and cooling springs. There 
were rare flowers and costly fruits everywhere; 
and Hulda had leave to gather them when she 
pleased, and she could play in the cool, shady 
walks whenever she chose. But she did not 
wish to play there! It gave her little pleasure 
to run up and down the shady walks, to jump 
on the moss, to gather a stalk of flowers, or 
to look for strawberries. If she did not sit 
as still as a mouse on a velvet cushion in her 
chamber, then she sat as still as a mouse in 
the shaded walk in the garden. The birds in 
the tall trees twittered and hopped, but Hulda 
never wished to dance or sing. 

“ Why are you discontented, my little angel ? ” 
asked the queen of her daughter. 

“ Why do you never play, my darling ? ” in¬ 
quired the king. 

vol. n. ✓ 5 ® 


98 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Why do you never jump about, my jewel ? ” 
said the queen; “ are your feet lame ? ” 

“I never hear you laugh, my sugar-plum,” 
said the king ; “ does your head ache ? ” 

But Hulda said there was nothing the matter; 
only she did not want to play, or laugh, or run 
about. 

“You eat very little, my sweet child,” said 
the king; “ tell me what you would like, and 
you shall have it, if it costs half my kingdom ? ” 

“ You dress very poorly, my daughter,” said 
the queen; “ tell me if your robes and your 
jewels do . not please you, and you shall have 
new ones, as many as you want.” 

But the princess wished for nothing. She 
had no appetite, and she wanted neither jewels 
nor new robes. The king and queen did not 
know what to think of it. 

“I do not know what to advise,” said the 
king. 

“ I only hope she is not ill ? ” lamented the 
queen. 

But Hulda was not ill, and although she lost 
her red cheeks, and ate and drank but little, 
she never complained of any pain. 

The king called in the most skilful physicians 
and asked their advice, but they said the Prin¬ 
cess was as healthy as any one could wish, and 


EASTER EYE. 


99 


that she would soon be contented and happy 
again. But wise as the doctors were, they were 
mistaken. Hulda remained the same, and the 
king and queen might begin to doubt, when 
they saw her sit the whole day still and silent 
in one spot. 

The king had the loveliest playthings made 
for her, of gold and silver; she valued them as 
little as if they had been made of straw. • The 
queen brought her the most beautiful picture-, 
books; Hulda never opened them. The king 
bought her a pearl ornament, and a gold chain 
ten yards long, but Hulda let it stay in the 
case, and never touched it. 

The queen made the loveliest little girls come, 
to dance and sing before the princess. But still 
the princess sat silently in the corner. She 
looked neither at the pretty dancers, nor showed 
by her countenance that she heard the beautiful 
songs of the little singers. 

Her royal parents looked at her in deep dis¬ 
tress. The king lost his appetite, and the queen 
wept till her eyes were red, — but Hulda did 
not care for that! 

One day, one of the maids of honor told the 
queen of a wise woman, who lived near the 
castle, and who gave advice and assistance some¬ 
times to the people, but she would not visit any 


100 


SPECTACLES. 


one; whoever needed her aid must go to her, 
even if it were the king himself. 

The queen related this to her husband, and the 
next day they went to the wise woman. Fortu¬ 
nately they found her at home, and were well 
received by her. 

The queen told her all that troubled her, and 
the king promised her three bags of ducats if 
she should succeed in making the princess smile. 
“ For,” said he, “ no one knows the time when 
she smiled.” 

44 Does the princess ever weep ? ” asked the 
wise woman. 

44 That is not necessary,” exclaimed the queen. 
44 Is it not sad enough that she has no joy in any¬ 
thing, and never smiles, that you should ask if 
she ever weeps ? ” 

But the king was astonished at the question of 
the wise woman. 44 Why should our daughter 
weep ? ” said he. “No, God be thanked ! she 
has no cause for that; she has never shed a tear 
in her life ! ” 

44 That is just,” said the wise woman. 44 The 
princess cannot properly laugh if she has never 
cried.” 

The king and queen marvelled at the words of 
the wise woman, and would not believe what she 
said. 


EASTER EYE. 


101 


But the wise woman, who feared no king, said, 
“ I have told you what I think. If you believe 
it, it will be for your happiness. If you do not 
believe it, it is the same to me; and I shall say 
no more.” 

Then the queen besought the wise woman, for 
the love of Heaven, to advise them ; and that 
she and the king would be perfectly satisfied 
with all she did. 

At last the wise woman was persuaded to help 
them, and said, “ There is a well, which is called 
the well of tears; from it came the first tears 
which were shed in the world. The princess 
must seek for this well, if she would be jsured; 
but she must make the journey without horses or 
carriage, and must have no servant, nor maid of 
honor to attend her.” 

“ 0 my poor, dear daughter! ” cried the queen ; 
“ must she travel alone and on foot through an 
unknown country, to seek out the well of 
tears ? ” 

“ Only one person must accompany her,” said 
the wise woman, “ and I will be that one. Re¬ 
linquish the princess to me, and I promise to 
return her to you well and happy.” 

“ In the name of God,” said the king, “ and 
if you keep your word, you shall have all your 
heart can wish.” 


102 


SPECTACLES. 


The queen, in her distress, could not speak. 
Full of anguish, she thought of the separation 
from her dear child, and returned to the castle, 
her eyes filled with tears. When they told the 
princess that she was to go away the next morn¬ 
ing with the wise woman, to search for the well 
of tears, she said nothing, neither yes nor no, 
but remained as still as ever. 

She did not care at all, that her parents wept 
so bitterly at parting from her. She was neither 
sad nor joyful; and she went away with the 
wise woman without question or complaint. 
They went on many days, through woods and 
through fields, over good roads and bad ones. 
The princess walked on, or stopped, as the wise 
woman said. She required nothing and com¬ 
plained of nothing; there was nothing pleasant 
to her and nothing painful. 

She saw many strange people on the way, old 
and young, happy and unhappy. Hulda could 
not weep with the sad, nor laugh with the gay. 
She did not pity the sick and infirm, nor rejoice 
with the well and happy. If a poor person 
spoke to her, she gave him money, and turned 
away. If a merry child, then she scarcely 
nodded and went on. Flowers bloomed on the 
path, Hulda did not see them. Birds sang, and 
she did not hear them. Flocks and herds went 
by, she did not notice them. 


EASTER EVE. 


103 


After they had been journeying several weeks, 
she came to a valley that was surrounded by 
steep cliffs. On the highest peak of the cliff 
there sat a mother, who held a dead child in 
her arms, and was weeping bitterly; the tears 
streamed from her eyes down the side of the 
cliff, out of which a pure spring welled forth. 

“ That is the well of tears,” said the wise 
woman to the princess. “ Go and bathe your 
eyes in that water.” 

Hulda did as she was told. She went to the 
spring which flowed from the eyes of the weep¬ 
ing mother and let the water pour over her eye¬ 
lids. Suddenly she felt a dreadful agony in her 
eyes ; she clasped her hands over them, and 
behold, tears welled through her fingers, and 
the Princess Hulda wept for the first time in 
her life! 

And as her first tears fell, a great change came 
over her heart: she thought of the tears her 
parents shed when she parted from them ; she 
thought of the sick and miserable people she 
had seen on the way ; and as she lo.oked at 
the weeping mother, with the dead child, she 
fancied how her own mother would have wept, 
if she, Hulda, had been torn from her by death. 
As she thought of all this, tears poured more 
freely from her eyes, and she wept and wept till 
her eyes closed in sleep. 



104 


SPECTACLES. 


In her dream she saw herself placed in a lovely 
flower-garden. Beautiful, smiling angels, with 
gold and silver wings, floated over the flowers. 
Those were the children that Death had taken 
from the earth. From the shrubbery came 
forth weeping women, clad in mourning gar¬ 
ments ; these were the mothers of the dead chil¬ 
dren, who floated as angels now, over the flowers. 
Every child-angel floated over its mother and 
kissed her. Then the mother ceased her weep¬ 
ing and smiled blissfully ; and as every mother 
took an angel in her arms, then her black gar¬ 
ments were changed to lily-white robes, golden 
wings shot from her shoulders, and she herself 
became an angel. 

Then, at last, Hulda saw a large, magnificent 
woman come from the bushes, who bore a gold¬ 
en crown on her head. As the princess looked 
more closely,, she recognized her own mother, 
who wept bitterly, and extended her hands to¬ 
wards Hulda. But as Hulda hastened towards 
her, to soothe and embrace her, then everything 
disappeared from before her eyes. She awoke, 
and found herself sitting on the grass, near the 
wise woman.” 

Then Hulda began to weep, and said to the 
wise woman, “ I beseech of you from my heart 
let us return to my mother; she certainly will 


EASTER EVE. 


105 


think I am dead, and will grieve herself to death 
for me.” 

“ Then come,” said the wise woman, “we shall 
soon be with your parents.” 

“ So they went on, and soon came to a flow¬ 
ery meadow. Merry children frolicked in it; a 
few gathered flowers, while the others held them 
in their hands, and danced in a ring, singing: 

“ Dancing in a ring, 

How merry is the spring! 

Now shines the sun, the sky is blue, 

And bright the flowers of every hue! 

How merry is the spring, 

When dancing in the ring! ” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed the Princess Hulda, “ how 
lovely it is here! I should like to gather flow¬ 
ers and dance and sing with the happy childen; 
— but no ! ah, no ! I must go home to my dear 
parents.” 

When they had gone on a little farther, they 
saw an old blind beggar sitting by the way- 
side ; and near him a little ragged child was 
sitting, who was his daughter. That troubled 
the princess, and she said, “ Come with me to 
the castle, you poor blind man, and take your 
child with you ; I will care for you.” So they 
went on, followed by the poor people. 

They had not gone far when they came to a 
little dog lying in the road; he howled pain- 
5 * 


106 


SPECTACLES. 


fully, for he had a severe wound in his hind 
leg. The princess took the poor creature up 
in her arms, and when they came to a brook 
she washed his wound, bound it up in a linen 
cloth, and carried him home in her arms. 

Now they came to a broad avenue, shaded by 
tall, thickly-leaved trees. 

“ Ah ! what kind of trees are those beau¬ 
tiful high ones ?” said the princess. “I never 
saw any like those before. The birds sing so 
beautifully, which sit there above in the upper 
branches, and twitter so joyfully, that I never 
heard anything equal to it in my life.” 

Then the wise woman laughed silently, and 
said, “ Have you lived so long at home, and yet 
do not know that this is the way that leads to 
the castle ? ” 

The princess uttered a cry of joy, for the castle 
lay a few steps before her, and the king and 
queen stood on the marble steps. 

Hulda could hardly restrain her joy. She ran 
as fast as she could run to her parents, who rec¬ 
ognized their daughter returning, and hastened 
joyfully and in surprise to meet her. 

And as the princess embraced first her father 
and then her mother, she laughed and cried with 
joy, and could not be still. How happy were 
the king and queen when they saw their child 
so changed! They were glad that Hulda had 


EASTER EVE. 


10T 


brought home the blind beggar and his child and 
the little dog with her, and they kept them all 
in the castle. 

Princess Hulda was beside herself with joy 
that she was now at home again with her par¬ 
ents. She sprang and danced as merry as a 
bird, and shared her playthings and fine robes 
with the beggar-girl. She besought her parents 
to keep the wise woman at the castle; and the 
king and queen consented to her request with 
pleasure, for they saw that she was really a wise 
woman, and never forgot what they had to thank 
her for. 

Hulda became the joy of her parents, and 
remained as good and happy as a good child 
could be, who had such loving and tender par¬ 
ents, and also one treasure besides; that which 
can bring comfort to the poor and afflicted. 
Comfort and help our Hulda carried to all who 
needed them, whom she sought out and found; 
and because she could weep with those who 
wept, she could also laugh with those who were 
happy. 

When the story was finished, Mary was so 
sleepy, that she did not care whether she was a 
princess or not. “ Especially, mamma,” she said, 
“ if they have to laugh and cry, just like other 
people ! ” 


CHAPTER VIII. 


EASTER EGGS. 

“ What is the matter with them all this morn¬ 
ing ? ” said the old nurse, who had followed the 
children and her mistress to Russia, and would 
have gone even to the wilds of Siberia if it were 
required of her. 44 The men are kissing each 
other, and the coachman has* brought a hard- 
boiled egg to ‘babinka,’ as he calls him,— as if 
I would let the baby eat it; — and then he kissed 
his hand and said, 4 Christohs vosskress,’ or some 
heathenish speech that I can’t understand; — 
then there’s Lena and Dunia saying the same, 
and everybody is kissing everybody else, and 
poor old me don’t know what in the world it all 
means, and what the fuss is all about! ” 

44 It is the custom of the country,” said Mrs. 
Hamilton, as usual, when she could not explain 
the matter; 44 besides that, it is a part of their 
religion.” 

44 Their religion ! Why, they are not even 
Catholics. I’m afraid they are dreadful heathen¬ 
ish ! and to think of the dear baby’s being born 


EASTER EGGS. 


109 


here ; and Dunia tried* to make him bow to her 
gods, as she calls the picture of the images she 
has shut up in a box in the corner ! The baby 
bowed, for he could do nothing else, since he 
didn’t hold his head up then, and she was as 
pleased as if he knew what he was about. The 
idea of a civilized child being born in such a 
heathenish country! What will he turn out to 
be ? ” 

“A comfort to us both, I hope, nurse,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton kindly, smiling at the perplexity 
of the old woman. 

“ And she gave him some of her dry bread, 
ma’am, that she had blessed and shut up with 
her gods, — a bit of mouldy bread ! But the 
blessed child did not swallow it, and then she 
felt so bad about it! ” 

“ That proves she loves the child, and wishes 
him well,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ And she even hangs an amulet over the 
cradle, to keep away all evil. To think of any 
blessed child that I have the care of needing a 
charm! Such a race of pious thieves I never 
saw before ! ” said the angry old woman, who had 
lost her thimble, and was now searching in vain 
for her spectacles, that were lying safely at rest 
in her huge pocket. 

“ You must not feel vexed with them because 


no 


SPECTACLES. 


their religion is so different from yours,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Their religion! Think of the footman and 
the coachman kissing each other; and look at 
the peasants in the streets kissing too ! ” and the 
poor old lady, in her mirth at the unexpected 
sight, forgot her anger at the heathenish country. 

“ The custom is not confined to peasants and 
servants alone, nurse. See this beautiful egg, 
that was sent to me by Madame Peyser, that cost 
fifty roubles at the glass-works of the Empress.” 

“ Fifty roubles for a plaything! ” said the old 
nurse. 

“ Not a plaything, but a work of art,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Those works of art are not much different 
from big dolls,' that I can see,” said the old 
nurse ; “ when I was young, works of art were n’t 
talked about. And now people are travelling 
about, and wearing themselves out, a viewing 
works of art.” 

This was meant for Mrs. Hamilton, who was 
not very strong, though her health had been 
improving since the journey and the sea-voyage. 

“ I had a present of an egg, too, ma’am,” 
said the old nurse, — a little ashamed of her ill- 
temper. “ To be sure, mine is only a wooden 
one; and look here! those children have hidden 


EASTER EGGS. 


Ill 



my thimble in it! ” she exclaimed, — delighted 
at finding it was hollow, and that it made a nice 
box for her old thimble, so precious from its long 
service. 

“ It is a pretty custom enough, I think, — all 
but the kissing! that is only fit for children and 
babies. But they tell me they expect a present 
in money from you in return for the eggs. Is 
that so; that spoils it all, Mrs. Hamilton?” 

“ Is that any worse, nurse, than the New 
Year’s gifts and Christmas boxes that we have 
at home ? And how pleasant we think the cus¬ 
tom is there! ” 

“Ah ! that is different! everything is differ¬ 
ent here ; but I begin to like it better, ma’am,” 
she said, confidentially. “ And the children are 
so happy here! ” 


112 


SPECTACLES. 


44 All! yes, nurse, if the children are happy, 
you will be so, I know; and, nurse, try to make 
the baby learn English, I want him to speak 
English first.” 

“ Speak English ! What should the darling 
speak, but his mother tongue ? ” 

Why, have you not noticed his crying 4 Da,’ 
if you ask him if anything is pretty ? And when 
he was sleepy the other night, how cunning he 
was, putting his head on one side and saying, 
4 Ooa! ’ ” 

44 All babies do that! that does not mean any¬ 
thing, ma’am.” 

44 0 yes ! It means in Russ, I am going 
to sleep, and 4 Da’ is only 4 yes’ in another 
form.” 

44 Num num, mamma! ” the baby cried out, 
as if it had been unnoticed too long. 

44 There, he is hungry, nurse,” said Mrs. Ham¬ 
ilton, 44 he is asking for something to eat.” 

44 The Blessed Virgin ! ” said the nurse in af¬ 
fright. 44 Do you call that talking ? And is it 
a heathenish Russian he is, after all, the blessed 
creetur, that was ! the baby I’ve tended on my 
knees so many days and nights, — though the 
Russian woman did have the nursing of him, 
sometimes, when I had to see to the other little 
ones, who could not say what they wanted, to 
these terrible foreigners.” 


EASTER EGGS. 


113 

It never occurred to nurse that she was the 
terrible foreigner here, for the additional re¬ 
spect and politeness she received from that cause 
she attributed to her own merits. 

Then Dunia, the Russian nurse, came in, and 
finding the baby was crying energetically, “ Num 
num,” answered, very coolly, “ Sei tchas, Sei 
tchas dushinka,” ( u In a minute, darling! ”) 
which, to the horror of its old nurse, seemed to 
quiet him at once. 

“ There, Dunia will give him something to 
eat; and, nurse, you will see that he wears his 
blue dress to-day, as some Russian friends are 
expected, and Mr. Hamilton prefers his wearing 
the color proper for infants in this country.” 

“A proper color for boys, I suppose you mean, 
ma’am ; but what should be the proper color for 
little girls to wear, then ? ” she inquired, gravely. 

“ Pink is the color for little girls, and we 
think it quite as well to regard those little dis¬ 
tinctions, nurse.” 

“ Blue is the color for all little girls at home, 
ma’am; all fair-haired little girls wear blue rib¬ 
bons and white dresses; but if poor little Miss 
Mary had not those pretty black eyes and a nice 
skin, what would she look like, in pink rib¬ 
bons ? Like a dish of cranberry sauce, with 
those red cheeks of hers ; — but it’s the custom 


114 


SPECTACLES. 


of the country, ma’am, and I suppose we shall 
all learn it,” she said, as Mrs. Hamilton left the 
room. 

“ Nurse,” said little Peter, who had entered 
while they were talking, “ I heard them tell 
mamma that, when a young girl was buried, she 
had to have a coffin lined with pink ; and if it 
was a boy, he must have it lined with blue.” 

“ Mercy on us ! — Before the children, too ! 
And what did they say about the old folks ? ” 
she asked, her curiosity getting roused, in spite 
of her better judgment. 

“ I forget! They had something dark, I be¬ 
lieve.” 

“ Don’t think anything about it ! That’s 
right; forget it all; and go with Dunia and 
Biba, as she calls him, to see the ladies.” 

Poor nurse, mentally uttering a groan, sent 
away the two children, and sighed for home and 
for a Christian burial. “ For what if I should 
lay my old bones here,” she said to herself sol¬ 
emnly, “ how should I know what would be¬ 
come of me, and where I might rise ! ” 


CHAPTER IX. 


POMIN ATELNUI PONYEDELNIK (RECOLLECTION 
MONDAY). 

During the whole of Easter week the churches 
are open. The holidays are concluded by a mass, 
when the division of bread takes place. We do 
not know the meaning of this, but we do know 
that immense loaves of bread are baked, with the 
crusts colored red, and stamped with the gold let¬ 
ters, “ Christohs vosskress ihs mortvui,” which in 
Russian signify, “ Christ is risen from the dead.” 

These loaves are cut into small pieces and 
scattered by the priests among the people, who 
receive them eagerly, and who are waiting about 
the altars of the churches. 

When Dunia and Lena — who have the care 
of the children — returned from the church, 
Lena was in delight at her good fortune in having 
caught a small bit of bread for her portion, which 
had upon it “ Christohs ” ; but Dunia, who had 
a bit with the word “ mortvui,” which signifies 
death, was almost inconsolable, because it was 
supposed to foretell some misfortune to her. 


116 . 


SPECTACLES. 


Nurse was congratulating one of them and 
consoling the other. — I am afraid nurse is a 
little superstitious herself. 

“ You must not let the children see these 
things. I am surprised you should pay any at¬ 
tention to it, nurse ! ” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ I was only hearing about it, ma’am,” she 
said, innocently, — for nurse had much curiosity. 

u And what do you suppose they are to do to¬ 
day, ma’am ? It is the strangest thing of all, 
and if you please, I should like to go to it.” 

“ This is the first ceremony I ever knew you 
wish to attend, nurse, so what can it be ? ” 

“ Why, it is Recollection Monday, ma’am, and 
they all meet in the churchyard to remember 
their friends. Who knows,” she said solemnly, 
“ if our departed friends felt we had a day set 
apart to think of them alone, and that we went 
to their graves to weep over them, that they 
would not give us a kind thought in return. If 
it is the custom of the country, ma’am, I think 
it is the best one I have ever heard of among 
these curious people. It is so simple and so 
touching it makes me almost cry to think of it. 
How little we have in America to remind us of 
departed friends, — sometimes not even a grave¬ 
stone I ” she said, wiping her eyes. 

“ My dear old friend, you must not weep! 


RECOLLECTION MONDAY. 117 

You can go, if you please, but I do not believe 
it will be any comfort after all! Beautiful as 
the thought is, it will be abused by the public, 
who cannot approach any delicate thing without 
injuring it.” 

The poor old nurse went to see the ceremony, 
and returned disappointed. 

For early in the morning people went by, on 
foot, or in different kinds of vehicles, loaded with 
baskets containing red Easter-eggs, loaves of 
bread, oranges, lemons, gingerbread, and cakes. 

Old nurse joined one of the parties of “ terrible 
foreigners,” as she always called them, and when 
she came home, though she was very tired, her 
volubility was increased by the excitement she 
had passed through. 

“ Only think of it, ma’am! ” she exclaimed. 
“ First, all the dinners they brought with them 
were carried into the chapel, to be blessed. In 
every loaf they had a lighted candle burning, — 
they cannot do anything without a candle, even 
in broad daylight! But there was one pretty 
thought, ma’am. On each loaf there was a little 
book, containing the name of the friend who 
was dead and gone. And the priest looked into 
the book, and after reading the name there, he 
put that into his prayers, and prayed for the one 
whose name he read. Then they all went away 
and wept over the graves of their friends. 


118 


SPECTACLES. 


“ But then , ma’am ! — after that they sat down 
and had a cloth spread over the grave, and ate 
there and drank, as if their friend could join with 
them in spirit, and rejoice to see them there, re¬ 
membering him in this way.” 

“ Could they do that calmly and cheerfully ? ” 
a§ked Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ 0 no, ma’am ! Some of them were in great 
distress, and seemed as if they could not be com¬ 
forted, and others were — well! — very comfort¬ 
able ; just as it is always, ma’am. Some people 
never seem to feel anything, while others seem 
ready to drop to pieces, like little Peter’s card- 
houses, if you just lay a finger on them. Some 
people, if they have not* a great sorrow, will try 
to make a little one do, and whine and pine over 
it till you can’t pity them, because they complain 
so much.” 

“ Mamma ! ” said little Mary wonderingly, 
“ what sort of religion is this, and where could 
it come from? For nurse says it is their re¬ 
ligion.” 

“ It is one of the ceremonies of the Greek 
Church, that we know nothing about,” said her 
mother. 

“ How came they to have a Greek Church, way 
up here in Russia, ma’am, if you won’t think 
me bold for asking ? Some of their customs 


RECOLLECTION MONDAY. 


119 


seem so pretty and some so heathenish, if I 
may so speak ! ” said old nurse. 

“ This is quite poetical and spiritual, if it were 
only carried out as it was first intended, I should 
think,” said Mrs. Hamilton ; “ but there is Peter. 
What do you think of Recollection Monday, 
Peter ? ” 

“ I don’t believe in it at all , mamma! Where 
did they get it ? Where did their religion spring 
from ? It is almost like the heathenish things 
we read of in our history.” 

“ I have heard, my child, that the Christianity 
of Russia dates from the baptism of the Queen 
Regent Olga, who is now a saint in the Russian 
calendar. This Queen, yielding to the persua¬ 
sions of some Greek missionaries, sailed from 
Kiow to Constantinople in 955, and was baptized 
with great ceremony under the Emperor Con¬ 
stantine Porphyrogenitus.” 

“ What a long name ! ” said little Mary; “ and 
that is as hard to spell as Constantinople, Peter.” 

“ Have you not learnt to spell that yet, Mary ? ” 
said her mother, laughing. 

“ No ma’am,” said nurse ; “ and master Peter 
asks her every day, and she don’t get beyond the 
first three syllables. Who can expect her to study 
here, when just looking out o’ the window is like 
a picture-book to her, ma’am ! ” 


120 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Did they embrace that religion then, mamma ? 
Did the Russians care so much for their queen 
as to believe all she did was right ? ” asked 
Peter, — unheeding nurse and her remarks, — 
for he was much interested in solving the mys¬ 
tery of the strange religious rites that had per¬ 
plexed him so much lately. 

“ 0 no, my boy! It was reserved for her 
grandson, Vladimir I., who was one of the most 
ferocious and yet sagacious tyrants that ever sat 
on a Russian throne. He had attracted the at¬ 
tention of the neighboring powers, and rather 
alarmed them by military expeditions and by 
extensive jurisdiction, and still more by display¬ 
ing a restless and ambitious character. 

“ Each foreign power became anxious to win 
him over to their particular religious faith, in 
order to make a political connection. Mission¬ 
aries were sent to him for that purpose, — Catho¬ 
lic, Mahometan, and even Jewish missionaries; 
% but they were all disregarded, — though an elo¬ 
quent Greek found admission to him, and was 
heard with consideration and pleasure, and dis¬ 
missed with beautiful presents.” 

“ I suppose he believed what his mother be¬ 
lieved,” said Peter; “ children always believe 
what their mothers do! ” 

“ But he was not a child, Peter ; he was a big 
Emperor on a throne,” said Mary. 


RECOLLECTION MONDAY. 121 

44 That is still more to liis credit, I think,” said 
Peter, 44 to mind what his mother told him. I 
suppose she tried first to convert him.” 

“ We did not think of that, Peter ; I dare say 
you are right about it,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 
44 His mother’s words might have had more effect 
than the Greek missionary. But he did a sensi¬ 
ble and yet a strange thing. He sent out ten of 
his wisest subjects — ten wise men, as we say in 
a story — to examine and search out the true 
religion.” 

44 As if one could find it on the wayside ! ” 
said Peter. 

44 The wise men went to Bulgaria first, where 
they were but little impressed with the Mahome¬ 
tan worship. Then they went to Germany, and 
were still less pleased with the simple rites of 
some Latin churches there. But when they 
came to Constantinople, and saw the magnificent 
church of St. Sophia, where the decorations were 
so splendid and the ceremonies so awful, they 
declared that to be the true faith. 

44 On their return, they told the Emperor, who 
was quite satisfied with the decision, and deter¬ 
mined to take this religion for himself and his 
people. And how do you suppose he did this, 
Peter ? ” 

44 By sending for some priests to come and 
6 


VOL. II. 


122 


SPECTACLES. 


found a church there; I don’t see what else he 
could do ! ” 

“ No ; he was too proud to ask them for their 
priests or for their religion. It was characterise 
tic of a ‘ heathenish people,’ as you call them. 
He assembled a mighty army, marched down, 
and besieged the city of Theodosia, which is 
Kaffa now.” 

“ Did they defend it, mamma ? ” 

“ It was a siege of six months before the city 
was taken, and much blood was shed on both 
sides ; but then, a sufficient number of popes 
and archimandrites were ready for the pious com 
queror to take home.” 

“ That is the last way of getting religion that 
I ever heard of,” said nurse, “ a fighting for it.” 

“ And what did he do then ? ” asked Peter, 
hardly listening to what had gone before, and 
asking as you children always do. 

“What did he do, then?” 

“ Then he did as strange a thing. He demanded 
of these Emperors, Basil and Constantine, whom 
he had just conquered, the hand of their sister 
in marriage! ” 

“ I hope they refused it! ” said Peter, indig¬ 
nantly. 

“ No, they felt obliged to sacrifice their sister 
Anne to the ambition of a barbarian whom she 
hated.” 


RECOLLECTION MONDAY. 


123 


“ How could they do so, ma’am ? ” 

“ They did it to save Constantinople from the 
fate of Theodosia, — from being besieged,” she 
answered. 

“And what did he do then?” said Peter. 

“ Then he returned the territory he had taken 
away from them, after marrying the princess 
and being baptized on the same day.” 

u Why, it ends like all the fairy stories,” said 
Mary; “ they all marry a princess and live 
happily ever after. Did they live happily ever 
after, mamma ? ” 

“ So the story says,” said Mrs. Hamilton. “ He 
passed the rest of his life in spreading the new 
religion and destroying all paganism.” 

“ Then they were pagans, mamma, and nurse 
was not wrong thinking they were heathenish 
once ? ” 

“ Do you suppose they got rid of all their 
pagan notions then? Don’t you suppose some 
of them were kept, Mrs. Hamilton,” said nurse, 
a little awe-struck at the idea. 

“ They had formerly human sacrifices, I have 
read, and now, instead of thinking virtuous con¬ 
duct and a pure life can make us acceptable to 
that heavenly Power to which we owe all our 
blessings, my children, they think they can gain 
the favor of Heaven by these unmeaning rites and 
ceremonies, some of which you have witnessed.” 


124 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Poor creeturs,” said old nurse, kindly, “ what 
kind of a religion could you expect to get by 
fighting for it, children ? I won’t laugh at their 
gods again, considering they ’re not real heathen, 
and have given up their sacrifices to broken 
idols. To think of my being in an idolatrous 
country, or she that was , even if they have got 
over it some. Then this is the religion of the 
Greek Church, up in Russia, ma’am. We must 
live and learn, but I little expected to get among 
idols, or to see people a bowing to graven images 
in my poor old lifetime.” 

“ But you like to live here, nurse, with us, 
you know,” said little Mary. 

“ Yes, darling, and when I hear you say your 
little prayers at night, and your hymn, ‘ Now 
I lay me down to sleep,’ I am not afraid of 
the dreadful foreigners, and I don’t mind if 
the baby does bow to the image so prettily, as 
it pleases poor Dunia. I remember what Christ 
said, about doing as you would be done by, and 
at the same time he said, 6 Suffer little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven ’; so I am sure to 
feel safe, where the children are! ” 

“ That is quite right. We will leave you now, 
as you must be tired after all you have seen.” 

“ Seeing those poor creatures crying over the 


RECOLLECTION MONDAY. 


125 


graves made me feel kind o’ lonesome, and I 
was glad to get home. How it does make home , 
ma’am, to have children about you. I never 
expected to call this , home,” said nurse. 

“ Well, good night, and pleasant dreams! ” 
said Mrs. Hamilton, as she left the room. 

4 4 Pleasant dreams! it has been like a horrid 
nightmare to me, to-day,” said nurse, talking 
to herself. 44 Those people eating on the graves, 
sets one a thinking of ghosts and hobgoblins, 
if there was any such things,” she said, looking 
at little Mary, who was listening with her black 
eyes wide open. 

44 Now go to sleep dear, and don’t dream of 
all they have been saying; there is one God, 
the Father of all, and who takes care of the 
little ones and the sparrows, like you and me! 
Good night.” 


CHAPTER X. 


THE WINTER PALACE. — THE HERMITAGE. 

44 Now, children, the carriage is ready, and we 
are all going to visit the Winter Palace and the 
Hermitage ! ” said Mr. Hamilton. 

44 May I go too, papa ? ” asked little Mary. 

“ No, my dear, not to-day,” interrupted Mrs. 
Hamilton ; 44 there are too many steps for a little 
girl to climb without being very tired. Papa will 
take you to-morrow to drive in the drosliky, which 
will be fine ! ” 

44 0 yes, to-morrow! that will be nice ! ” she 
said. Will not to-morrow be always better than 
than to-day? 

44 But, father,” said Peter,/ 4 have you a ‘per¬ 
mit ’ ? we cannot go without one,” he said ; for 
he was always looking about in search of various 
kinds of information, which sometimes proved 
valuable, and at others made him seem officious 
and forward. 

44 Certainly ! ” his father answered ; 44 but un¬ 
less we hurry, we shall not have time to see half 
there is to be looked at in the different galleries. 






* 

















































































































































































































































































































































































































THE WINTER PALACE. 


127 


We ’ll take a rapid view to-day, and see all that 
is best worth seeing, then go again" another 
time.” 

They were soon driving fast down the Nefsky, 
and were attracted by the varied sights of a 
foreign city, as usual. 

“ There is a bread-merchant,” said Walter. 
“ Are you hungry to-day, Peter ? What a singu¬ 
lar custom it is, to sell everything in the streets ! 
That boy has a loaf as large as he can lift. There 
is a sledge from the country, and they are baiting 
the horses in the street. May I ask that gen¬ 
darme if this is the way ? ” 

“ If you wish to take that trouble, Peter.” 

“ I do believe,” said Walter, “ he would make 
an excuse to leave the carriage any time for 
the sake of a few words with a soldier. There! 
he is running back ! ” 

Peter brought the needed information; that is, 
he had had a little run, which he always preferred 
to a long drive; and very soon the carriage 
stopped at the superb Winter Palace. 

On ascending the steps the gendarme de¬ 
manded the “ permit,” and Mr. Hamilton re¬ 
ceived another in exchange at the door. 

u How very strict they always are! ” said 
Peter. 

“ Yes! It is the custom,” said his father. 


128 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Now hurry up the broad staircase, and bo sure 
not to leave the room without me, or you will 
be lost!” 

u O mamma!” exclaimed Walter, “ do look 
at these beautiful vases, all made of lapis-lazuli; 
and here are some of malachite ; and see ! they 
are taller than I am! ” 

“ This is what we read of in the Bible. This 
malachite comes from Siberia, where there are 
copper mines. But there is your father going 
into Peter the Great’s room.” 

“ Here, boys! ” he exclaimed on entering; 
“ here is a beautiful golden egg! Watch now, 
as it is opened! ” 

“ What is that; is that another egg ? ” 

“ Yes ; look, Peter; still another, and another, 
and now see ! ” 

“ 0, a beautiful watch! I wish that was mine. 
And look at this one, shut up in a yellow-bird, 
and this in a diamond cross ! How many watches 
did Peter have ? A dozen, do you think ? ” 

“ 0,” laughed his father, “ look in at the 
cases as you go by, and you will soon be tired of 
counting the watches. There are several hun¬ 
dred, all of them presented to Peter. The whole 
gallery is filled with curiosities sent to him, and 
by and by we shall see a figure seated in a chair, 
dressed to represent him as he appeared in full 
dress.” 


THE WINTEK PALACE. 


129 


“There it is ! ” exclaimed Walter. 44 I see it, 
and the people are crossing themselves before it! ” 
“ Yes! now walk on, and tell me what you 
see.” 

“ Father, come quick ! here is a splendid pea¬ 
cock, and it is turning round and round, as 
if it were alive,” shouted Peter. 

44 Ah ! we are fortunate. That party on our 
right is the family of the American Minister; 
and the guard has wound up the machinery of 
the peacock, as a particular favor to them. So 
we have the benefit of it. Now listen, and when 
the peacock lifts its head you will hear it call.” 
44 Just as if it was alive, father ? ” asked Peter. 
44 Yes! you could not tell the difference. How 
beautifully he spreads his tail! ” 

44 That reminds me of the Italians,” said Mrs. 
Hamilton, 44 who say, when any one is making 
a show, 11 pavoneggiarsi , or, He makes a pea¬ 
cock of himself.” 

44 Why don’t you say it in the Yankee ver¬ 
nacular, mamma ? ” said Walter, — 44 that is, 
4 he makes a spread ! ’ ” 

44 You must excuse him, my dear,” said Mr. 
Hamilton ; 44 boys are so rough. Look at the spots 
on the tail of the peacock ; they are real precious 
stones! That was indeed a valuable present to 
Peter ! Now, boys, look! he is showing his 


130 


SPECTACLES. 


feathers for the last time, and calling, as if to ask 
how yon like his looks.” 

The beautiful bird proudly raised his head 
and opened his beak, ruffling his feathers and 
croaking so loudly that Peter sprang towards 
his father, — as if the gold and silver bird could 
fly from its stand! 

“ Here is Peter the Great’s walking-stick, if 
you need protection, my boy,” said Mr. Hamil¬ 
ton, laughing. It was of solid iron, and none of 
the party could lift it, or at least could not hold 
it out straight. 

“It is not much better than an old crow¬ 
bar ! ” said our Peter, contemptuously. 

“ You naughty Yankee boy, everything be¬ 
longing to Peter the Great is revered by the 
Russians. Here are two sides of a long gallery 
filled with presents to him, and curiosities that 
he collected.” 

“It is astonishing to me,” said Mrs. Hamilton, 
“ how he found time for everything. He carved 
so beautifully in ivory, which is very slow work, 
and then he invented many things. There is 
a cabriolet in the collection where he measured 
the time of the wheels’ revolving by machinery 
in a box behind him. I don’t see why lie cared 
for all these things, or how he had time for half 
of them. I never have any time, and I never 
saw any one who had,” she said, discontentedly. 


THE WINTER PALACE. 


131 


“ Mamma, do you remember the anecdote of 
the Indian ? ” said Walter. 

“ No, dear ; what was it ? ” 

“ Why, he said, when some one complained 
of not having any time, — ‘ I suppose you have 
all the time there is I 9 ” 

“That is very true, Walter, and as we have 
not any more than there is, we must hurry to see 
the crown jewels before it is too late.” 

“ They are here,” he said. 

And there were girdles and tassels formed of 
diamonds as large as a pea. They were strung, 
and wound into a cord made of three strands, as 
large as my finger, — much larger than yours! 
and with heavy tassels hanging to them. 

“ How lovely these flowers are! ” said Mrs. 
Hamilton. 

For there were lovely flowers made of precious 
stones, — as if an Empress knew that flowers 
were lovelier than jewels ; their leaves were 
made of emeralds ; the roses were of pink dia¬ 
monds, and the lilies, of pearls. These bou¬ 
quets were as large as you could carry in your 
hand, if you gathered it in the field. Does not 
this sound like a fairy story ? — but it is all true; 
and there were glass cases filled with these 
flowers. If you could live in that country,— 
where the diamonds are so plenty that the ladies’ 


132 


SPECTACLES. 


dresses are looped up with bunches of them, 
and where the Emperor’s dish-covers are marked 
with them, and even the pillars in the church 
are studded with them, —- perhaps you would feel 
as the Russians do, who run all day after a lost 
flower or a fallen leaf in the Emperor’s garden; 
and you might not value the little bright speck 
in a ring quite so much—just because people 
•call it a diamond. 

After looking at these, and admiring them, 
they saw the crown, that was wholly made of 
diamonds. It was close and round like a skull¬ 
cap, and on the top of it was an immense dia¬ 
mond, as large as an egg. 

How magnificent this is! Queen Victoria 
has not anything so handsome, I know,” said 
Walter. 

“ I saw the crown in England,” said Mr. Ham¬ 
ilton. “ It was made partly of crimson velvet, 
and studded with small diamonds. How the 
Russian ladies who were with us laughed! ” 

“Laughed at the crown, papa!” 

“ They laughed at the crown jewels, as they 
are called, because they are so diminutive, com¬ 
pared to the beauty and richness of those be¬ 
longing to the Russian Empire.” 

“ Perhaps the Russian barbarians, as they were 
formerly called, valued jewels more than the 


THE HERMITAGE. 


133 


English monarchs did, and took more pains in 
collecting them,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Catherine II. certainly collected a great 
many, not only from the Turks at the Crimea, 
but she sent to Pompeii, and the Russians are 
said to have ransacked the graves of the origi¬ 
nal inhabitants of Siberia and Caucasus, which 
were searched by the Cossacks and Tartars; and 
these spoils the Russian government have ob¬ 
tained from those people, and they are pre¬ 
served with all the other valuable relics that 
can be found. They are principally to be seen 
at the Hermitage. We have tickets, and we can 
go there now. The Hermitage is not what you 
think, children, a home made for a hermit, but 
it is a beautiful palace built by the Empress 
Catherine II. for her own pleasure, where she 
could retire from the cares of her court. That 
enchanted garden, which is heated in winter 
by hot-air flues beneath the brick floor, on 
which it is made, and which is illuminated 
in summer, and where rare birds fluttered 
under nets of gold wire, is still to be seen; but 
the Empress and the birds are passed away. 
It belonged to this palace, where everything 
rare is to be found. There was a lovely theatre 
here, only large enough for the private friends 
of the Empress, and where but few were ad- 


134 


SPECTACLES. 


mitted at a time. Men of learning came here, 
and artists, with their own paintings, and mu¬ 
sicians, with their compositions. It was built 
for this purpose, and all were encouraged here, 
and made happy and free. 

“ There is a wonderful collection of paintings, 
very rare and beautiful. Landscapes, where the 
grass seems growing greener than it grows ever 
here; cattle, grazing beneath the trees, whose 
leaves scatter the sunbeams this pale land rarely 
sees; and portraits of lovely faces, that make 
us think the saints and angels are about us.” 

“ And who could paint them all, father ? ” 

“ They are from the old masters, and are more 
valuable because they can never be repeated.” 

“ Do they call them the old masters, because 
they had to live a long life before they could 
paint well, and were old men before they were 
famous ? ” 

“ The boy is not far from right,” said Mrs. 
Hamilton. 

“ You do ask such strange questions! ” said 
Walter. 

“Well, how should I know ? ” said Peter. 

“There is something to astonish you, Peter, 
in the library, and your mother and Walter too, 
I think.” 

“ What is it ? ” said Mrs. Hamilton, forgetting 


THE HERMITAGE. 


135 


Peter’s question; “ what will astonish me, who 
begin to think I cannot be more astonished 
than I have been already, ever since I first 
came, and found the sun up at midnight ? ” 

“ That was because it was summer, mother! ” 
said Walter, imparting a little information, as 
you children like to do. 

“ What should you think of seeing the Bible 
in the different tongues of the various tribes 
of American Indians, the Sioux, the Caman- 
clies, &c.?” asked Mr. Hamilton. 

“ I should think it impossible,” she answered. 

“ Well, I have seen them,” he said. “ The li¬ 
brary is very fine in the Hermitage, and when I 
tell you the American Indian and liis literature 
are unforgotten, you may feel sure that the Eng¬ 
lish, French, German, and Italian are remem¬ 
bered. Even our new American novels are to 
be found untranslated here.” , 

“ If papa should write a book, would it be 
found there ? ” said Peter. 

“ Certainly, if I write a description of our 
residence here, and put the boys into it. How 
should you like that, Peter ? You would not 
feel so shy as you did when you first came, and 
thought you were going to be placed in a pic¬ 
ture.” 

“ The child is very much changed since we 
came,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 


136 


SPECTACLES. 


Peter considered a few moments before an¬ 
swering, and said : “ I should like it very much 
indeed, papa, if you will make me speak good 
English in the book, for Mr. Peyser said one 
day that I did not speak good English.” 

44 That is very amusing ! Mr. Peyser is a Ger¬ 
man ; and he thinks the Germans can speak cor¬ 
rectly, does he ? ” 

44 He only said we were careless, mamma; 
and he laughed at me for saying something was 
4 pretty miserable,’ which he pretended he could 
not understand. I wish he could hear old nurse 
speak. I am sure he could not understand her.” 

44 Nor could she understand his strong Ger¬ 
man accent. I hope the baby will not speak 
English with an accent, for he never hears the 
letter H. What shall we do ? ” 

44 Let him learn it from the other children,” 
said Mr. Hamilton. 44 1 am not afraid of it. But 
here we are at the Hermitage ! ” 

And there let us leave them. 


CHAPTER XI. 


THE SPRING. — THE NEVA. 

“ 0 mamma, mamma, there is a dandelion! ” 
exclaimed little Mary the next morning, her eyes 
dancing and her cheeks flushing with delight. 

“ Did not you ever see a dandelion before, 
Mary ? ” said the old nurse, a little impa¬ 
tiently. 

“ But it makes me think of home, mamma, 
and the green fields, and when we used to gather 
buttercups and clover in the meadow. And 
see those little girls ! they all have dandelion 
wreaths on their heads. How pretty they are ! 
We never made wreaths of dandelions, only of 
clover and lilacs, and we used to string colum¬ 
bines on a thread for necklaces. How beauti¬ 
ful those wreaths are ! How can they make 
them?” 

“ They twist the long, pliant stalks of the dan¬ 
delions together, and they are easily wound into 
a wreath,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 

Just at this moment Dunia entered the room, 
bringing the baby, who was dressed up with a 


138 


SPECTACLES. 


yellow dandelion wreath on his curls, and was 
smiling and bowing like a polite little Russian, 
as he was. 

Mary looked as if she thought the wreath had 
better be on her head than the baby’s, but she 
inwardly controlled herself, swallowing rather 
violently, however. 

“ What is the matter, little Mary ? ” said the 
old nurse; “ does not your breakfast sit easy ? 
It is the Easter eggs, I know.” 

But Dunia advanced slowly, taking the wreath 
from the baby, who only bowed, and said, 
“Da!” 

“ She handed it^with great gravity to little 
Mary, and said, slowly, “ Fiir dich! ” 

“It is for you, Mary,” said Mrs. Hamilton. 
“ Some of the children sent it to you. Thank 
Dunia for it.” 

Dunia could understand. “Tank,” as she 
pronounced it always ; for Dunia was born in 
Russia, though in a German town there, and 
she could speak Russ, German, and a little 
English, sometimes. We found it more diffi¬ 
cult to understand the English than the other 
languages she spoke. It was such a strange 
medley of sounds. 

“Bringt es tree mal,” she said, smiling. 

“ Did you say she 4 bringed it three mile ’ ? ” 


THE SP KING. 


139 


asked the nurse, complacently understanding and 
interpreting her remark. 

“ Nein ! ” (No.) 

44 0, nine mile ! That is very polite ; I think 
these curious foreigners are very polite, though 
they do have queer customs. What should we 
think of carrying a bunch of dandelions nine 
mile to make a present of! If ’twas the roots 
to stew up and make a syrup for a sick man, 
or even a dish o’ greens to remind one of home, 
it would not be so bad ; but nine mile for a 
bunch of posies, handsome as they are, is too 
much.” 

44 They are much handsomer and larger than * 
the dandelions we have in America, and it is a 
very pretty custom for all the little girls to wear 
them. Put it on, Mary ! ” said Mrs. Hamilton, 
smiling to see the child’s hesitation. 44 Dunia 
says the children came three times to see you.” 

44 O, is that all she said ? ” exclaimed nurse. 

“ 4 Three times,’ she meant to say,” replied 
Mrs. Hamilton ; 44 but she called it 4 tree mal,’ 
instead of 4 dreimal ’ in German, which is 
easier for us to understand ; if she only would 
speak German it would be much less trouble.” 

44 And this is the nurse, ma’am, who was 
recommended to you as speaking English so 
nicely ? ” 


140 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Yes ! they told me she spoke English charm¬ 
ingly : — but she understands what you tell her 
to do, I hope, nurse ? ” 

44 0 yes, ma’am! but that poor 4 babinka ,’ as 
she calls him, — she will speak her dreadful Ger¬ 
man to him, and he even said 4 Ja!’ yester¬ 
day.” 

44 Is that anything wrong, do you think, nurse ? ” 
said Mrs. Hamilton, laughing. 

44 0 no, ma’am! but how can the darling 
understand her ? He will certainly sprain his 
brains ! I must tell the doctor about it.” 

44 It is a custom of the country for the phy¬ 
sician to come in every week, as he is paid by 
the year, whether we are ill or not, and you may 
ask him. But many of the children here speak 
several languages without any difficulty.” 

44 How came they to have such a curious 
country ? Why don’t they all speak the same 
mother tongue, — as they do in most countries ? 
They seem to have a mother tongue and father 
tongue ; for the mother is often a German, and 
the father a Frenchman, and perhaps the grand¬ 
father a Russian or a Swede. I never dreamt of 
such a country ! When I studied geography, the 
countries were all divided off on the map, with a 
green border for one, and a red border for another, 
and a yellow border for a third, and I thought the 


THE SPRING. 


141 


folks lived where they belonged, inside of their 
own boundaries, not wandering about, worrying 
other folks to learn their different languages, 
and never speaking an English word, or if they 
do, putting it in the wrong place. W'ho’d 
ever suppose one mile meant 4 once,’ or that 
4 nine,’ a good, respectable English word, — 
that we’re sure of, and we aren’t sure of much 
in this foreign country, — should turn out to be 
the Dutch for 4 No ! ’ But that 4 no ’ is a good, 
honest word,” she said, 44 and I am glad the 
baby says that as if he meant it. Goodness ! 
There’s a cannon firing ! There is n’t any war 
here, ma’am, is there ? ” she asked, in affright. 

44 0 no, nurse ! there is nothing to trouble you 
here.” 

44 Ever since my son James went to the wars, 
ma’am, I can’t hear a cannon without trembling 
all over. When he went away, ma’am, it went 
straight to my heart, and I’ve had a trembling 
there ever since! ” 

44 Mamma ! mamma ! they are celebrating the 
opening of the river! ” said Walter. 

44 What can the boy mean ? How can they 
ever open a river ? ” asked nurse, in amaze. 

44 It is the Neva! the ice is breaking up! ” 
cried Walter. 44 They have gone across to the Em¬ 
peror, to carry him a goblet of the water from the 


142 


SPECTACLES. 


Neva, and he lias to drink it, and then he will 
fill the goblet with ducats, to pay them for the 
draught. Huzza ! ” cried Walter. 

“ Who has gone ? ” they inquired. 

“ Why, the commandant of the fortress and 
the officers of his suite in full uniform. They 
have taken an elegant gondola, and the guns 



were fired, and the Emperor has taken the water 
and drank it, and now they are coming back. 
He always has to fill the goblet with gold after 
he has swallowed the water.” 

“ I’d carry a water-pail! ” said old nurse, con¬ 
temptuously. 

“ They used to increase the size of the goblet, 
mamma, every year, and so now they are obliged 
to have one fixed price for it, and that is two 
hundred ducats.” 








THE NEVA. 


143 


“ Two hundred ducats for a draught of water! 
Any spring from a New-England hill would be 
as clear,” said nurse. “ I only wish we had a 
well here, that I could draw a bucket of water, 
and not have to depend on that old Russian with 
his cask and old horse to bring it every morning 
from the river.” 

“ The Emperor Alexander thought so much of 
the Neva water, nurse, that he carried a bottle of 
it with him, closely corked, on his journey to 
Moscow,” said Walter. 

“ As if it would be better than the fresh water 
he would find when he got there ! ” exclaimed 
nurse. “ Was he the Emperor who founded this 
city, ma’am ? ” 

“ No, Peter the Great was the founder of St. 
Petersburg ; though Catherine II. finished many 
designs commenced by Peter. They are called 
in Russia the founder and the finisher. Peter 
placed the city where it could be accessible to for¬ 
eigners, as he knew his people would learn from 
other nations the best things those could do. 
Even now there are manufactures of French 
articles or of German, which are thought to be 
imported, but are skilfully imitated in this coun¬ 
try. French and German workmen are employed 
here. And now , you see why there is no lan¬ 
guage spoken exclusively ; it is because the good 


144 


SPECTACLES. 


Emperor sought out the well-being of his people, 
and wished them to learn from all countries 
the best things to be taught. It was many 
years ago and we see the good effects of it now.” 

“ Mamma, there is a small house here built 
by Peter the Great himself, and it is furnished 
with a simple desk and chairs as he left it. 
And there is a little boat, mamma, that was 
built by him, and father says it has been re¬ 
paired, and painted, and coppered, and scrubbed, 
and polished, till there is hardly a bit of the 
original boat left.” 

“ That shows how much they value it, — there 
is some sense in keeping that” said nurse. 

“ She found some of Dunia’s treasures this 
morning, mamma,” whispered little Mary. 

“What is the child, saying, ma’am? I did. 
find some bits of old bones and rags, and, I 
was going to throw them out; but Dunia had 
such a turn , and called out, 4 Nine ! nine ! ’ I 
had not counted them, and did not care how 
many there were, whether they were nine or 
ten, if I only got rid o’ them. Bujt when she 
began to cry, that is a language we all know, 
ma’am, and I gave them back’ to her. She 
began crossing herself and kissing them ; so I 
suppose they were what folks call relics . Poor, 
miserable rags they were ! ’ 


THE NEVA. 


145 


“It is not so much the real value of the 
article, but the value we give to it, nurse, you 
must recollect.” 

“And, nurse, you must remember that old 
black-silk handkerchief you look at sometimes, 
and never let us touch,” said Mary, timidly. 

“ My boy! my boy! ” exclaimed poor nurse, 
in a deluge Of tears. 

“ Let us leave her alone, my dear,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton gently. 

“ She is thinking of her son, who went to 
the wars,” said little Mary, reverently, as she 
quietly closed the door. “ Poor nurse ! ” 

“ Come with me, Mary, into the cabinet,” 
said Mrs. Hamilton kindly, taking her little 
girl into the study and looking over some books, 
as if in search of something. 

“ There, Mary,” she said, “ I have found a 
little poem" for you, written by a girl who loved 
the dandelion, as a flower, as much as you 
seem to like it.” 

“ But it is only because it makes me think 
of home, mamma! ” she answered. 

“ Ah! that is the reason you like it then! 
Travellers when far away from home have some¬ 
times met a little, common flower, such as grew 
by their own doorstep, and it has moved them 
to tears.” 

7 J 


146 


SPECTACLES. 


44 Tears, mamma! It makes me laugh and 
clap my hands with joy.” 

“ Then my little girl better sit down quietly, 
and learn the little poem to say to the boys 
when they come home.” 

So Mary took the book, and sat quietly a few 
minutes, and then exclaimed, 44 Let me read it 
first, to you, mamma,” and she commenced read¬ 
ing, very slowly and carefully, these words r — 

444 The Dandelion/ 

But who ever would have thought of writing - 
poetry to a dandelion, mamma ? ” 

44 I think my little girl would, this morning, 
if she had been wise enough,” her mother an¬ 
swered, with a smile. 

44 So I should, mamma! I wanted to sing, 
and if I had known these verses, I believe I 
should have sung them at once.” 

44 Are you going to read them to me, my 
dear ? I will dispense with the singing at present.” 

44 0 yes, mamma, now I will begin. 4 The 
Dandelion ! 9 ” she read in a loud tone. 

Then Walter and Peter came in, and the book 
was thrown down; and it laid in the same 
spot till I came by and put it on the shelf 
where it properly belongs, after I had written 
the lines for you; — for you, too, may be in a 


THE DANDELION. 


14T 


foreign country some time, and may be glad to 
see a dandelion with a homely face, to remind 
you of your own country. 

THE DANDELION. 

Here’s a song for the Gypsy King! 

For the Dandelion bold! 

From the lowliest grass he ’ll spring, 

With a crown of the richest gold. 

Young children his captives are, 

And they forge his chains of green; 

As curls in their shining hair, 

The fetters bright are s§en; 

Or as mermaids ringlets wear, 

The sea-flower’s leaves of green. 

He’sa Gypsy among the flowers! 

No heart hath a place for him; 

So we ’ll take him home to ours, 

And sing him a crowning hymn: 

For when Poverty creeps abroad, 

For the bread she dare not buy, 

The ‘ flower’s a smile from God,’ 

To gladden her aching eye, 

And she kneels on the lowly sod, 

And shouteth a joyful cry. 

Then sing to the Gypsy King! 

To the Dandelion boldl 

Though a lowly, a scorned thing, 

Its life hath not half been told; 

For it sits by the cottage door, 

In its night-cap of warm white down, 

And it says to the timid poor, * 

‘ Have faith, if the tempest frown ’; 

But it telleth one truth far more, — 

’ Tis the lowly that wears the crown ! 


148 


SPECTACLES. 


I don’t think much of poetry myself, but that 
seems to have a pretty moral, and as we are liv¬ 
ing here among Emperors and grand people, 
it is as well to keep humble things in your 
mind. 


CHAPTER XII. 


THE ISLANDS. 

“ My dear,” said Mr. Hamilton, “ I think it is 
time for us to have your garden made, if you 
want one.” 

“ Have it made, Mr. Hamilton ; I don’t quite 
understand you.” 

“ They take flowers from the greenhouses, 
mamma, and plant them in rows in their gar¬ 
dens, and fancy they have grown there,” said 
Mary. 

“ The season is too short for the annuals to 
arrive at perfection,” said Mr. Hamilton, “ and it 
is quite an ingenious mode of hurrying Nature 
about her work.” 

“Poor Dame Nature, mamma, must be as¬ 
tonished sometimes. They say the gardens at 
the Hermitage are heated by pipes beneath 
them.” 

“ Will the flowers grow as well there as un¬ 
der a bright sun ? ” inquired Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Why, certainly, like the greenhouse plants,” 
he replied. 


150 


SPECTACLES. 


“ I don’t like greenhouse plants, mamma,” 
said little Mary. 

“ A little girl who is fond of the dande¬ 
lion will hardly care much for exotics,” she 
answered. 

“I will make my garden, too, mamma, and 
have dandelions and daisies all in rows in it.”- 

“ ‘ Mary, Mary, quite contrary, 

How does your garden grow ? 

With silver bells and cockle shells, 

And daisies all in a row,’ ” — 

sang Peter, who came in full of spirits from see¬ 
ing sights in the city. 

“ So you are going to have an artificial gar¬ 
den, Mary, and mean to plant flowers in blos¬ 
som, as some of the rich people do, because 
the season is so short. That is a very good 
fashion, if your garden would only keep in 
bloom. But, mamma, we have seen some real 
flowers.” 

“ Some real flowers, Peter; and who have seen 
them? Be a little more definite in your re¬ 
marks,” his mother answered. 

“ Why, Walter and I went with Mr. Peyser,— 
papa gave us leave, truly! — and we went to 
see some beautiful islands near the city. And 
there we found real, live wild-flowers growing 
on them, just such as we have at home ; they 


THE ISLANDS. 


151 


were anemones, Solomon’s seal, lilies of the val¬ 
ley, and all the common flowers. Is not that 
wonderful, mamma ? ” 

“ Yes, I think it is very wonderful that they 
should be alive,” she answered, laughing at his 
eagerness. 

“ 0 no, mamma! I mean, is it not wonder¬ 
ful that the same wild-flowers should grow here 
as in America ? ” 

“Yes, my dear, if you had not told me you 
had seen them, I should not have supposed our 
little wood anemone and Houstonia could have 
lived in this cold country.” 

“ I -felt real glad to see them, mother. They 
made me think of our pleasant woods at home. 
They have so many greenhouses here belong¬ 
ing to the gr$at houses, and artificial flowers 
blooming in sand all winter, that I do not care 
much about them. It is because the summer 
is so short, I think, they try to make the winter 
seem like summer, with the hot Russian stoves 
and the flowers between the windows. How 
short is the summer, mother ? ” 

“ I remember, Peter, your grandfather told 
me there were but three hot days in summer,” 
she answered. 

“ Then it is most time to look out for winter,” 
he said, in glee ; “ we have had more than three 
hot days already.” 


152 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Don’t you enjoy the summer, Peter ? You 
have not told me what you saw on your excur¬ 
sion to-day.” 

“ Certainly, mamma, I do enjoy summer, and 
so I am in a hurry to enjoy the winter too.” 

His mother laughed, and repeated her ques¬ 
tion; “ What did you see besides the wild-flow- * 
ers ? ” 

“ Why, we went to an island where there is * 
a convent, and the monks let us in to look 
around, and they let us have a portion of their 
dinner to eat ; and what do you think they 
always live on, qpd have nothing else to eat ? 
Plain bread and fish. We ate some of it; but 
I was glad to get away.” 

“ Then did you come right home ? ” asked 
little Mary, who thought that recital was not 
very amusing. 

u No, we went to another beautiful island, that 
was formerly used for sacrifices.” 

“ What do you mean, my dear ? what were the 
sacrifices for ? ” 

“ There were sacrifices made there of beautiful 
horses.” 

“ What for ? ” asked Mary, innocently. 

“ Why, to appease the Devil 1 ” said Peter, 
bluntly. 

Poor Mary was horrified; and thought she 


THE ISLANDS. 


153 


ought not to ask questions, for she had often been 
told so. 

“ It was not my fault, mother,” she said, per¬ 
plexed. 

“ What was not your fault ? ” 

“ That he should say a bad word.” 

“ No, dear; it was a strange custom, and if 
Peter has not any more wonders to tell us, we 
shall send him away. I thought you went to see 
the churches, Peter.” 

“ So we did, mamma, and found people cross¬ 
ing themselves at every corner of the streets. 
They do not cross themselves exactly as the 
Catholics do, — I wonder why ? ” 

“ They think the Catholics are quite wrong,” 
said Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ How are they wrong, mamma ? ” 

“ I do not say they are wrong ; but these peo¬ 
ple say the only true Christians are those of the 
Greek Church, and that Christianity means the 
Holy Trinity, and with their three fingers they 
mean to represent the Trinity. They make the 
sign of the cross with only three fingers, and 
the Catholics use the whole hand. But tell us 
about the churches ; you cannot understand all 
this.” 

“ No, mother ; but it is very solemn sometimes 
to see them stop at the corners of the streets and 
7* 


154 


SPECTACLES. 


bow to the picture of the Virgin. They are very 
religious, I think.” 

“ There is nurse coming, Peter; she will not 
agree with you, perhaps.” 



“ Ah ! what is the boy saying ? No, little Peter, 
it is not the bowing and scraping that makes true 
religion. What is deep in the heart does not 
come out; so easy on the fingers,” said nurse, 
vigorously. 

“ These religious sects differ among themselves, 













THE ISLANDS. 


155 


I find; the whole religion of the Greek Church 
in Russia consists more in outward religious 
observances than that of any other people,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton. 

“I am glad to hear it, ma’am, for I never 
heard and saw so much religion before,” said 
nurse. 

“ If we should all go to Rome, before we return 
to America, what would you say there ? ” 

“ Rome is where the Pope lives: well, I shall 
just wait, ma’am, till we get there, before I can 
say. That Pope is the head of them all, I be¬ 
lieve.” 

“ I know, mamma, one reason why nurse does 
not think much of their religion. It is because 
she was cheated so the other day,” said Peter, 
not daring to laugh. 

“ How was she cheated ? ” asked Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ Why, I went, ma’am, to buy a new dress for 
the warm weather; I thought there would never 
be any warm weather here, and I did not bring 
one with me. When I went to the shops, I was 
astonished to find them all under one roof. I 
don’t mean all the shops in the city, — but every¬ 
thing I wished to buy could be bought in the 
different rooms of this large building, — from 
stockings and shoes to a bonnet or a side-saddle! ” 

“ Did you want a side-saddle, nurse ? ” 


156 


Spectacles. 


“ Don’t be silly, child ! ” 

“ Were you not pleased with your purchases, 
. nurse ? ” 

“ 0 yes, ma’am ! some of the things were very 
nice ; but some of the others were sham ; nothing 
but gilded leather, and such things! ” she said, 
scornfully. “ They are all a set of pious thieves, 
as I knew before ! ” 

“ Here is something pretty for the baby,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton, bringing out a new cup and spoon 
of gold and silver embossed work. “ These are 
made only in Russia. How do you like these ? ” 
Nurse was in delight; and hurried off to the 
baby, to try and make him share her pleasure in 
the gift. 

“ Mother,” said Peter, “ do you remember 
how we thought if we came to Russia we should 
see a wild country, where there were few shops, 
and where the bears and wolves would chase us 
if we walked out alone; and little John, who 
lives at home by the sea-shore, cried because 
Mary was coming here, and then he said he 
wished he was coming too, to fight the bears and 
keep them away from her ? ” 

“ We thought there were no shops, Peter ; you 
mean you thought so. That is a child’s way of 
understanding, to suppose every one thinks as 
he does.” 


THE ISLANDS. 


157 


“ Ah! but, mamma, you thought so too; and 
father laughed when you asked him about our 
bringing plenty of nice new clothes, because we 
could not get them here. And se.e how much 
handsomer everything is here than in America. 
That was when grandfather laughed, and said 
there were but three hot days in summer, as 
you were asking about your new thin dresses. 
Are n’t you sorry you believed him, and have 
nothing but thick ones to wear ? ” 

“ The summer is warmer than I thought it 
could be; but they tell me it will soon be over. 
I should like to drive out into the country, and 
see what the vegetation looks like.” 

“ Should you like to drive out ? ” said Mr. 
Hamilton, entering the room as if he had heard 
what she said. “ I am going to Pe*terhof, and 
if you would like to go with me, I think you 
would enjoy it.” 

“ I should certainly like it very much,” she 
answered ; 66 but must we have a driver and 
those fearfully wild, prancing horses you Rus¬ 
sians admire so much.” 

Mr. Hamilton laughed, and asked if she thought 
the horses were really so very wild as they ap¬ 
peared. 

“ Why, certainly,” she answered; “ they never 
hold their heads up together, all at once; and 


158 


SPECTACLES. 


one of them is dancing always, as if that was all 
he had to do.” 

“ That is very true ; he is fastened in that 
position. The Russians are fond of show, as you 
see, and this is the common custom, to have one 
horse dancing, as you would say, and the others 
at work to pull the carriage. Will you go, now 
that you are assured there is more of art than 
spirit in his performance ? ” 

She readily consented, after hearing this sen- 
sible reason for the remarkable conduct of the 
animal, which had previously distressed her, 
though she had not dared complain. 

Peter ran out to give directions, and to tell 
the driver his mother was quite ready; and with 
a little trepidation at her heart, and a smothered 
sigh at the* customs of the country on her lips, 
the two set out on their journey to Peterhof. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


PETERHOF. — FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 

“ It is really very cold,” said Mr. Hamilton, 
wrapping his cloak more closely around him; 
but Mrs. Hamilton, seeing nothing but prancing 
horses, turned her head resolutely away, and tried 
to forget her fears. 

As they came out into the country the beau¬ 
tiful palaces were not so frequently seen ; but 
they passed many log-houses of one story, like 
our Western cabins, but much larger and more 
convenient. The vegetation was of stunted 
growth, and lilies of the valley lined the way. 
But the gardens were very lovely. The flowers, 
being transplanted from greenhouses, were very 
luxuriant, and large green grass-plats were seen, 
with immense beds of roses or verbenas of one 
shade -planted together; and the effect was like 
a tapestry carpet with high-colored bouquets of 
flowers scattered on a green ground, or rather, 
like immense baskets of flowers planted at inter¬ 
vals on the greensward. This arrangement of » 
having large beds of flowers of one kind and 


160 


SPECTACLES. 


color, so arranged in groups as to form lively 
contrasts, adds much to the beauty of the gar¬ 
dens. 

The only thing resembling it, that we have 
ever seen here, is the frequent grouping of red, 
white, and blue flowers, which were often planted 
together, during the short rage for those colors, 
which subsided as the war grew more serious, 
and the solemnity of it prevented fanciful devices 
being longer cared for. 

On the 1st of -May in St. Petersburg all the 
inhabitants are in motion to welcome the com¬ 
ing of the warm weather. Throughout the 
towns of Russia, on the same day, they are keep¬ 
ing the same festival. 

On the outside of the city, very near the sea, 
and on one of Peter the Great’s battle-fields 
with the Swedes, he built the Castle of Cather- 
inenhof and the gardens. For many years these 
were the only resorts of the kind for tlie people, 
and now they are much enlarged and extended, 
and still visited on the 1st of May. The gar¬ 
dens are filled with bowling-greens and restau¬ 
rants, and carriages are moving all day. Even 
the Emperor is out, with his brilliant staff, and 
the crowd watch till he appears; and when he 
„ has gone by, tliey^all return to their homes, satis¬ 
fied for the day. 


PETERHOF. 


161 


After passing 'Catherinenhof, many beautiful 
country-houses were seen as they went to Peter- 
hof. The coast is low and flat near St. Peters¬ 
burg ; but at the southern part of the gulf there 
is a high cliff, called the Klint. Peterhof and 
Oranienbaum are on the side of the cliff, and 
so beautiful terraces extend from it to the sea. 

In the centre of Peterhof is the old Castle, * 
built by Peter the Great. 

The road to Peterhof is broad, well paved, and 
on each side of it are verst-stones, or, as we 
should say, mile-stones. And as Mr. Hamilton 
passed one, he said, “ My friend Orloff lives at 
the sixth verst.” 

Mrs. Hamilton asked what he meant. He 
laughed, and said there was so little variety 
here to mark the spot, that, in the flat, undistin- 
guisliable country around, people reckoned by 
mile-stones. 

“ But here we approach to the Castle,” he 
exclaimed. 

“ There is no beauty in the Castle itself,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ No, it is like all the houses built by Peter, 
even the same color, yellow, which they all seem 
to have.” 

“ It is strange that the Castle should not look 
towards, the sea, the view is so beautiful! ” 


162 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Yes, it is a wliim we do not understand ; and 
there might have been a good reason for it.” 

On alighting from the carriage and viewing 
the grounds, the singular beauty of the statuary 
astonished Mrs. Hamilton. 

“ What can they be made of ? ” she said, “ they 
are not of pure gold, certainly ? ” For the stat¬ 
ues shone and glittered in the sun, as if made 
of polished gold. 

“ It resists the weather and the frosts of 
winter, which even granite cannot withstand. 
It cannot be pure gold, but how much it resem¬ 
bles it! When we go to Moscow I will show 
you much more dazzling gold and silver and 
precious stones than we can see in St. Peters¬ 
burg.” 

“How beautiful the fountains are, and the 
terraces sloping towards the sea! ” said Mrs. Ham¬ 
ilton. “ I wish the children were here to enjoy 
seeing the water pouring from the horn of that 
Bacchante, and these lovely flowers; the fuchsias 
are certainly as tall as trees, and so are the rose¬ 
bushes ! ” 

“ And see these oaks and lime-trees that 
were planted by Peter the Great himself. The 
people seem to reverence him,” said Mr. Ham¬ 
ilton. 

“ I think he deserves it for the good he has 


PETERHOF. 


163 


done in Eussia. What are these smaller build¬ 
ings,” she asked, “ there under the trees ? ” 

“ Those are wings to the large building, and 
show the modest taste of the 4 carpenter of Saar- 
dam,’ as the great Peter has been called.” 

44 It seems so quiet here to-day, as if no one 
were at home: is it always so still ? ” asked 
Mrs. Hamilton. 

44 Ah, no indeed! You should be here in 
July when the court gives a fete , and the five 
hundred thousand inhabitants of St. Petersburg 
are invited to it. A person of rank cannot 
lodge with a villager, so he builds a house for the 
occasion. As we know this is built slightly, and 
will not last many years, it shows how little they 
dream of expense in this country for a few days’ 
pleasure.” 

44 Ah ! I should not care to be there, on account 
of the ceremony; I remember laughing heartily 
at the story Mrs. Peyser told me, of her being 
admitted to the private chapel with the nobility. 
How dreadfully fatigued she was, waiting till the 
service was over ; she felt faint, and begged her 
husband to go out with her. 4 Not for your 
life,’ he said. Then she petitioned again to be 
released, — while the court ladies moved not 
a muscle : if they were suffocating too, nobody 
would know it from them. And the third time 


164 


SPECTACLES. 


she asked to be ^ allowed to go, her husband 
whispered, ‘ Creep out if you can, unobserved. 
I am well known here ; I cannot go, it is as 
much as my life is worth.’ He did not mean 
that, I suppose.” 

“ He meant it was a breach of etiquette, which 
here is almost a sin, and might be followed with 
unpleasant consequences,” he answered. 

“ I was so amused with nurse, who was stand¬ 
ing by us, and is a true Yankee, irreverent of 
all rank.” 

“ What did she say ? ” 

“ She was muttering to herself, and I heard 
her say, 6 A set of upstarts, — too proud to 
faint! ’ ” 

“ There is something intensely ridiculous to 
me in this Yankee trait, which is seen to such 
advantage in a foreign country ! ” 

“You ought to say it is seen to disadvantage,” 
she answered. 

“ No, my dear! the ridiculous form of pride 
that scorns all rank, and is still more proudly 
proud than those it scorns, amuses me very 
much.” 

“ I believe you have lived away from home so 
long that you are almost a Russian,” said his 
wife. 

“ 0 no! I am very fond of my home and 


PETERHOF. 


165 


native land; but I see many things to find fault 
with, which I hardly noticed before I went 
abroad.” 

44 Then I hope it will improve us, my dear.” 

44 1 hope it will,” he answered, pleasantly, for 
our friend James has lost much of his self-esteem 
since he has seen more of the world. 

44 Was this the summer residence of Peter ? ” 

44 It was the residence of Catherine and of the 
Grand Duchesses Anne and Elizabeth. The resi¬ 
dence of our Russian Emperor is Zarskoye Selo, 
and, like everything to be admired here, it owes 
its existence to Peter. He planted avenues of 
plane-trees there with his own hand.” 

44 He must have been indefatigably industrious.” 

44 He was so. The fine castle there was built 
by Elizabeth, and improved afterwards by Cathe¬ 
rine.” 

44 Are the gardens well cared for there ? ” 

44 So well cared for, that a falling leaf is chased 
and caught, if they spend a day in finding it. I 
am told that they dust and polish the trees, and 
even paths in the gardens ! ” 

44 1 can’t believe that is true; you must have 
read that, as a traveller’s story.” 

44 1 had it from undoubted authority, as well as 
seeing it myself; and the same writer says it 
costs one hundred thousand roubles yearly to 


166 


SPECTACLES. 


keep the gardens neat with all this polishing and 
brushing. An old, invalid soldier has five or six 
hundred men under him, employed to keep them 
in order. Every blade of grass has. to be put in 
£ proper position ! ” 

“ It would be hard to find a proper position 
for one. How ridiculous! and how very arti¬ 
ficial the garden must be! Waving grass is so 
lovely! ” 

“ Perhaps they let the grass wave, for then it 
bows , and certainly that is a proper position, in 
this country, for us all.” 

“ I shall think you have not become quite a 
Russian if you can still smile at the ceremony 
they use on every occasion.” 

“ It is rather amusing to be sure, but it is quite 
pleasant to witness so much politeness; I am 
sure the children will acquire it.” 

“ 0 yes! the younger ones certainly are be¬ 
coming very foreign in their manners; as to the 
baby, he bows and smiles incessantly.” 

“ Like all babies! ” 

“ No, not at all like all babies! he bows his 
thanks for his food, and when he enters the room, 
and kisses his hand as he leaves us. What a 
very pretty custom that is, of thanking the hostess 
after you have dined with her! The servant — 
I mean the nurse, I see little of the others — 


THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 


167 


always bows her thanks after each meal. How 
very odd our home customs will seem to us! ” 
she said, sighing. 

“ Are you still homesick ? ” asked Mr. Hamil¬ 
ton. 

“ O no ! I was thinking of the children. It 
is time for us to return to them,” she answered. 
“ Ho you suppose Mary has made her garden 
yet Z Poor little thing! I can tell her she is 
like the Empress, who would prefer an artificial 
one, to having one of less beauty; and rapid 
growth.” 

“ What does little Mary mean to do ? ” he 
asked, in amusement. 

“ She is planting flowers, with their stems in 
the earth, and watering them diligently, hoping 
to keep their heads from drooping! ” 

“ Hoping to keep their heads above water, you 
mean. How odd it seems,— a child has all the 
schemes of a man in miniature. It seems as if 
children were our imitators in everything. Those 
boys are continually searching about for informa¬ 
tion. I think I shall take them to the Hermit¬ 
age again to-morrow, and to see the Foundling 
Hospital, where boys are educated.” 

“Do they educate them as well as clothe and 
feed them?” 

“Yes. The annual revenues of the Foundling 



168 


SPECTACLES. 


Hospital are about six or seven hundred roubles 
a year. As there are sometimes five, or even - 
seven, thousand children admitted in a year, the 
annual expenses of the institution are estimated 
at over two millions.” 

“ But how are the expenses paid ? ” she asked. 

“ The government provides for it. The insti¬ 
tution, first founded by the Empress Catherine in 
1770, has had gifts from Alexander, Paul, and 
Nicholas, as well as from different private indi¬ 
viduals, till it has become very rich, and even 
worth millions.” 

“ Where are the buildings ? Are they to be 
seen in the city V 9 

“The principal buildings are in St. Peters¬ 
burg; the children are kept there six weeks, 
and then sent out to nurse among the peasants 
in the country. When they are six years old, 
they are taken back to be educated. A large 
number of boys are placed in the imperial manu¬ 
factories of carpets, looking-glasses, paper, or 
something like that; and the best part of it is, 
that those who show talent are allowed to become 
artists or students, and when their education is 
finished, they have no obligation to pay to the 
institution.” 

“ Have girls the same privileges ? ” 

“ Yes; they are educated for governesses, and 


THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 


169 


receive instruction in French, German, drawing, 
and music, and according to their talent they 
receive situations, either as servants or as teach¬ 
ers, and teachers from this institution are in great 
demand.” 

“ I should think they would remain there in 
the institution.” 

6i No ; — strangers are generally preferred. 
There are four or five hundred teachers in the 
house, French, German, and Russian. Twelve 
physicians belong to the establishment, who are 
obliged to visit the children who are out in the 
country also. The salaries of the teachers 
amount to several thousands, and the whole edu¬ 
cational expenses of the institution amount to 
half a million.” 

“ Do all the children belong to St. Petersburg ? ” 

“ 0 no ! they are sent from distant parts of 
Russia, and frequently even from Siberia, and 
many of them are worn out with the journey 
when they arrive, and many deaths occur.” 

“ I think that must be one reason there are so 
very few beggars to be seen here. If the poor 
children are sent here, and then are allowed to 
support themselves as they grow up, they can help 
their parents, or younger children, if they should 
need assistance still.” 

“ There is the first beggar I have seen in the 
8 


VOL. II. 


170 


SPECTACLES. 


country,” said Mr. Hamilton ; “ just because we 
were talking of them, as the old adage says. 
And these people are from Moscow.” 

“ How do you know that ? ” inquired his wife. 

“ Partly by their dress ; they have birch san¬ 
dals ; do you see them ? Let us go a little 
nearer.” 

“ 0 dear ! Mr. Hamilton, she is blind,” said 
Mrs. Hamilton, piteously. 




THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 


1T1 


“ But she is not deaf, certainly, as people often 
seem to fancy when one cannot see.” 

“ Let us give her some money as we go out,” 
he said. “ She is holding out her hand as if she 
heard our voices, and the boy is looking round 
at us, as if he wished to detain her.” 

“Look at his rough head! what a real Rus¬ 
sian he looks ! ” said Mrs. Hamilton. “ I wonder 
not to see more blind people here, for the light 
summer nights and the dark winter days are 
enough to ruin one’s eyes.” 

“ Ophthalmia is very frequent in Russia,” he 
answered, “ owing to the glare of the white snow.” 

“ I should think it would be,” she said. “ I 
must be very careful of the children ! ” 

“ My dear, the children will not, probably, be 
troubled with it. V 

“ I should like to go home,” she said, meekly. 
The thought of ophthalmia, in addition to her 
other anxieties in her foreign life, was very start¬ 
ling at its first appearance. 

“ Well, let us go and see them, and you will 
wonder that you were anxious, if their eyes shine 
as they always do at your coming.” 

As they drove home, and drew near St. Peters¬ 
burg, Mrs. Hamilton was startled by a red ball in 
the air, which was certainly a signal. 

“ Ah ! what is that ? ” she exclaimed. 


172 


SPECTACLES. 


“ It is only a fire ! ” Mr. Hamilton answered, 
coolly. 

“ Only a fire ! you say.” 

“ Certainly; it is the most common thing in 
the world to have fires here. Those small towers 
that you see above the houses, as we come nearer 
the city, are for signals.” 

“ But there seem to be different signals.” 

“ I hope you do not see but one! ” he an¬ 
swered. 

“ No; I see they are just lighting the red 
lamp.” 

“That is the signal for fire at night,’* he said, 
“ and the black ball is the signal for fire by day ; 
it is so early that you could see them both. I was 
afraid you saw another signal which is more to 
be dreaded.” 

“ There is nothing worse than fire, I hope,” 
she said in alarm, her fears imagining some un¬ 
known horror belonging to a foreign land. 

“O no ! The red flags are sometimes out, 
which means the water is rising; and that is to 
be feared more than fire in this country.” 

“ You mean because the city is built on the 
marsh ? ” she asked. 

“ Yes! and because it is so near the sea, that 
when the west wind rises there is danger from 
inundation.” 


THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 


173 


“ You are sure the fire is not near our house ; 
but how can you be so sure ? ” 

44 You see the watchman on the tower there; 
he has a telegraph through which he shows, by 
his balls and an iron pole, in what direction the 
fire is burning.” 

44 You are quite sure it is not near our house ? ” 
44 Are you quite sure you are not near our 
house ? ” he said, laughing. 

As she looked up, the merry faces of the 
children at the window proved to her she was 
at home, and Mary was calling out, 44 Etta mam¬ 
ma’s domo,” — as if they knew she was con¬ 
tused by the lateness of the hour, and coming 
in by a new entrance to the city. They are 
so happy to meet again, let us leave them. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


A RIDE WITH A LAPLANDER. — THE MARKET. 

“ 0 Peter ! Peter! there is the first flake of 
snow ! ” exclaimed Mary. “ How strange it is ! „ 
It looks more like hail than snow.” 

“ It always looks like hail. They say it is 
never very deep, and they never want an um¬ 
brella in it,” said Walter. 

“ I never wanted an umbrella in the snow at - 
home,” said bold Peter. 

“ I’m dreadfully afraid I can’t make a snow 
fort or snowball with it,” said Walter. 

“We can make snowballs out of any snow, 
and as for a snow fort, there is so much fun 
going on here I won’t spend the time for that,” 
answered Peter. “ I wonder if they will let me 
go and see the market ? Ugo said we ought 
to go.” 

“ Ho stay at home, Peter, and play with me ! ” 
Mary said, caressingly. 

“ 0 you can play with your dolls, Mary ! there 
is that beauty that you had from the Palm-Sunday 
Pair, with its pretty French dresses; you are not 
tired of that, I hope.” 


THE FROST-KING. 


175 


44 No; but I do*want somebody to talk to! I 
am so tired of speaking French and Russ, — and 
I forget the right word so often ! but they never 
laugh at me when I make mistakes, as I al¬ 
ways do when the children speak English to me. 
They are so proud of the few words they know, 
and they pronounce so drolly when they do speak 
English, that it makes me smile. They come in 
and say, 4 How tee too,’ and if I begin to laugh, 
they think it is because I am so glad to. see 
them.” 

44 You naughty little thing! ” said Peter. 

44 Mary pi,” said she, plaintively. 

44 Why don’t you speak English to me ? ” said 
Peter, laughing. 44 Why in the world don’t you 
say, 4 1 am good,’ instead of that silly word 4 pi,’ 
that the baby is always saying ? ” 

44 1 play so much with baby I forget, and often 
find myself saying a Russian word without think¬ 
ing what I am saying.” 

44 Then you are learning the language faster 
than I do,” said Peter. 44 1 have to think of the 
words first, and then I speak them. The teacher 
tells me to think in the language, but I can’t 
do it.” 

44 And I don’t want to,” said Mary, 44 but I 
can’t help it. Do tell me something English, — 
tell me a little story.” 



176 


SPECTACLES. 


“ What shall it be about ?” Re asked. 

“ 0, all about the snow and the frost.” 

“ Well! I will call it 

“THE EROST-KING. 

“ Once upon a time, away up in the North of 
Russia, there lived a little girl named Mary.” 
“ Why, that ’s' me ! ” said Mary. 

“ No, another little girl! And she looked out of 
the window one day, and what do you think she 
saw ? She saw Jack Frost coming along. He had 
on a great big cap made of an iceberg, and his 
shoes were of icicles, all frozen together, and his 
eyes were emeralds, and his mouth was wide open, 
and when he breathed, little castles and trees 
and beautiful landscapes fell from his lips and 
flew on to the window-pane, and then handsome 
pictures were seen, just as if they were drawn 
there, and — Mary, if you look sharp, you can 
find them now, I dare say.’ ’ 

“ 0 dear ! has he been by, do you think, since 
we have been talking ? ” 

a Perhaps he has ; he lives in Russia, ’way up 
by the North Pole ! ” 

“ Really, Peter ? ” 

• “ Really ! Look at the pictures ! ” said Peter. 

And really there were lovely pictures on the 
window-pane, — all in frost-work. 


THE FROST-KING. 


1T7 


“ Now I ’ll tell you all about it,” said Peter, 
pointing to the window. “ In the first place, 
here is a fir-tree, — there are always fir-trees in 
Russia, — and here is a fine castle with a draw¬ 
bridge by it, and see the soldiers with their spears 
walking over the bridge ! And there is a little 
woman sitting under the fir-trees alone ! ” 

“ She ’ll be frozen ! ” said Mary. 

“ She is frozen now; she is a frost-woman, 
and she ran away from the castle, and the soldiers 
are besieging it to find her, for she is a captive 
princess who was stolen by the enemy! 

“ Now you'can read the next story yourself, and 
see if that is so pretty. There is a story on each 
window-pane, — I mean the picture is there, and 
you can find out the story yourself, if you are 
ingenious.” 

“ But your story did not have any end. Did 
they find the princess ? ” asked Mary. 

“ No ; they never found her,” said Peter. 
“ She melted awayt ” 

“ Melted away! that was dreadful! I don’t 
like that ending.” 

“ That was because she cried so much ! She 
sat under the trees and cried, and the sun came 
and shone on her, and she turned into water, 
because she would not stop crying. She became 
a great tear! ” 

8* L 



178 


SPECTACLES. 


“ Peter, what are you doing ? ” said his mother, 
who entered the room. 

“ He has been telling me a nice story, mother, 
only it does not end well.” 

“ Nobody ends well who cries so much! ” said 
Peter. 

Mrs. Hamilton shook her head at Peter, for 
Mary began to look serious, and thought, if she 
should cry, it might be a little dangerous for 
little girls, if a princess was so unfortunate. 

“ Tell her about the heart' pictures, Peter; 
you ought not to make up stories to tease her.” 

“ I would not tease her for the woHd, mamma ; 
I was only showing her how she could find pic¬ 
tures in the frost on the window; but I ’ll tell 
her the verses, to please her. Listen, little 
Mary, listen carefully.” 

PICTURES. 

Made for the little children 
Are Pictures, everywhere, 

Painted on the flying clouds, 

And shining in the air. 

The frost doth make small people 
Walk on the window-pane, 

And in the fire glowing 
We see them shine again. 

Yes, for the little children 
Are Pictures everywhere, 

Painted on the cloud-wings, 

And shining in the air. 


PICTURES. 


179 


If in the lake we^re gazing, 

A picture there is drawn 
Of trees, the sky at sunset, 

And moon with silver horn. 

And if we ’re closely peeping 
Deep, deep down, we can see, 

Far in the reeds and rushes, 

A little you and me ! 

Two tiny faces gazing 
Straight up into our own, 

As if they had been painted, 

And in the water thrown. 

The sun, when brightly shining, 
Daguerrotyped them there, — 
Mine is brown as berry, 

Yours is sweet and fair. 

Thus, if we ’re good, (or naughty,) v 
Straight on our hearts is thrown 
A little picture, painted, 

So all the truth is known! 

We never can forget it, 

It’s deeply printed there, 

And with us all our life-time 
We must the picture wear. 

Remember, if you ’re tempted 
A naughty child to be, 

The little picture’s painting, 

If no one else can see! 

And when you ’re iK and lonely, 

Or when you ’re aged grown, 
There it will be shining, 

As when at first it shone. 


« 


180 


SPECTACLES. 


Think, think how many pictures 
Must on our hearts be worn; 
And those that tell we ’re wicked 
So heavily are borne! 

Then do some brave, good action, 
(Some kindness, if you can,) 
That you ’ll be proud to gaze on, 
When you are grown a man. 

And make your life so perfect, 
That on your heart may lie 
A pure, unclouded heaven, 
Keflected from the sky. 

N. B. If you ’re a little naughty, 

And to be good you try, 

That may rub out the picture 
Before the ink is dry.” 


u That’s nice ! ” said Mary, clapping her hands. 
44 Now I will look out of the window, and see 
the snow and watch it, and see if I can tell where 
the flakes go ; I know where they come from,— 
straight out of the sky, where they are shaking 
the great feather-beds (those white clouds we 
saw yesterday).” 

44 Whose feather-beds are they, Mary ? ” - 
44 Why, the people who live up there, 4 in fields 
beyond the sky,’ my hymn says.” 

44 1 like the funny people here best, mother. 
May I go with Ugo this morning when he goes 
to market ? ” 


THE MARKET. 


181 


“ If you will put on your fur coat and your 
mittens ; you must be very careful, as it is your 
first winter in Russia, and winter begins here in 
October and does not end till May ! ” she said, 
with a sigh. 

“ I think it is fine , mother! I wish it would 
be always winter! ” 

So saying, he ran out, leaving Mary to ponder 
over the pictures on the window-pane ; and as I 
cannot give you the frost-picture, I will give you 
the picture of Peter and Ugo at the Market. 

You will know Ugo by his moustache ; he does 
not look exactly like the peasants who are bar¬ 
gaining so keenly over the sledge. There are 
two 'peasant-women, who are wondering which 
piece of pork is best for them, and still Peter is 
standing there, waiting more silently than he 
would do if he could understand all they were 
saying, or if he could speak enough Russ to 
make himself understood. Ugo has left the 
sledge in his care, (we never say sled in this 
country,) and Peter, with his white apron on, is 
playing at being market-boy. 

The stacks of hay that you see there are im¬ 
ported from the country. Immense quantities 
are brought in for sale, and quantities of wood, 
also, for consumption in the great city of St. 
Petersburg. You must always remember that 


182 


SPECTACLES. 


tlie city is built on a morass, and that large trees 
would not grow there, except those that are 
planted with great care in the ornamental grounds 
of the palaces, and that hay enough for the horses 
of the army and the court would not grow there, 
as the waters of the Gulf are salt, and the 
marshy grass is only used for bedding. So the 
hay, the wood, and the water are brought into 
the city from a distance. Peter the Great knew 
these disadvantages, but he knew the importance 
of his position on the sea-coast, and he selected 
it for his great city, and has been repaid by the 
splendor and beauty of it, though he ^id not live 
long enough to see its perfection. 

For many years, — owing to the severe frosts, 
which even granite cannot withstand without 
breaking, — for many years, and until very re¬ 
cently, gas could not be used, owing to the 
breaking of the pipes. That difficulty has been 
overcome, and now nothing is wanting to add to 
the beauty of this fine city. 

You can see that the hogs in the'market are 
frozen hard as stone ; and if you could see a 
little more, you would see the geese brought, 
frozen, from China, a distance of four thousand 
miles, and the swans from Livonia. Bears, 
caught in the neighboring forests, where they 
still run about, and sometimes, it is said, ap- 



I 






























































































































































































































































































































































































' 












t 




A RIDE WITH A LAPLANDER. 


183 


proach the confines of the city. One came near 
our house one day, but we don’t dare to let the 
children know it. Hares, frozen while running, 
with their ears pointed and legs outstretched as. 
if caught by Jack Frost himself, while out hunt¬ 
ing. Frozen squirrels, partridges, and grouse 
are to be seen here ; and all these different 
varieties of smaller game are frozen and hung 
up as ornaments over the stall of the butcher. 
The pigeons are considered sacred, and they are 
not eaten in Russia by the people, but are trained 
as pets by their owners. 

Little singing-birds are found here in cages, 
but they never have a drop of water to quench 
their thirst; only frozen snow is placed in a little 
trough before them, where they wet their beaks 
and melt it with the warmth. “ Why is that ? ” 
you ask ; “ that is cruel! ” Cannot you guess 
the reason ? Because it is so cold the water 
would be frozen instantly. If you should throw 
a flower from the window, it would freeze on its 
way to the ground, or perhaps cling like an 
icicle to the window-sill. 

Should you like to live in this cold country ? 

I am sure you would, if you could see the sledge 
that Peter saw, on his way home from mar¬ 
ket, that was driven by a real Laplander on 
the ice. Then I know you would feel as pleased 


184 


SPECTACLES. 


as he was, and call out as lie did in Russ, u Pad- 
yee! Padyum te! ” which only means, “ Come 
here ! Will you come here ?” 

And the Laplander came, as he was bidden, 
and Peter asked for a ride, and Ugo told the 
Laplander in Russ what he wanted, and then 
away Peter flew over the ice, like a real Lap¬ 
lander. 

Do you suppose the reindeer have such fine, 
branching horns and are such noble-looking ani¬ 
mals as we might think from seeing Landseer’s 
beautiful pictures of them ? And that the Lap¬ 
lander and his sledge look as well as they do in 
the fine paintings we sometimes see ? 

I should be sorry if you should feel as dis¬ 
appointed as Peter did at the sight of them. 
For they are very small, not much larger than 
a Newfoundland dog, but they do have immense 
horns, and when Peter, in the uncomfortable 
little sledge covered with fur and lined with it, 
flew rapidly over the ice on the river, with the 
Laplander guiding the sledge by a rope fastened 
to the horns of the reindeer, then he thought, 
as he went along so swiftly, “Now I have all 
I wanted! Now I can tell my cousins, and 
all my friends in America, that I have had 
a ride with a real Laplander and a live rein¬ 
deer ! But I need not tell them how disappointed 


A RIDE WITH A LAPLANDER. 185 


I am in it; and perhaps I am not required to say 
liow much better a good sleigh-ride is, with a fast 
trotting-liorse and bells on his neck (they never 
have bells nor blinders here) ; but as to this rope 
and this ugly Laplander, if it were not for the 
strangeness of the thing, I would rather be at 
home! ” 

Then, as he went along a little farther, and the 
novelty wore off, and he looked at the solemn 
little Laplander wrapped up in bear-skins to the 
nose, and thought of the grand idea he had 
formed of the fine sledges and immense reindeer 
as large as horses, driven by a tall, handsome man 
in rich skins, then he began to laugh at his dis¬ 
appointment, and shook in his mirth, till the se¬ 
rious little Laplander looked at him in wonder. 
But Peter laughed on, and the Laplander, under¬ 
standing this language, laughed too. As that is 
the best way to' bear a disappointment, let us 
leave Peter and see what they are doing at home. 


CHAPTER XY. 


CHURCH OF KESAN.— FORTRESS. — ISAAC’S CHURCH. 

It was at dinner; the gas was burning brightly, 
and though it was but half past two in the after¬ 
noon, it was so dark that it was already night. 

“ Where is that boy Peter ? ” said his father. 
“ If he does not come home soon, he shall not go 
with us to see the ice-cutting and to have a ride 
on the ice-hills.” 

Peter entered as his father was saying these 
words. « 

“ You have returned just in time, Peter; you 
would have lost your ride to-morrow if you had 
not come in.” 

“ And I should have lost a ride to-day if I had 
come sooner, sir. An old Laplander took me 
out on his sledge, and the days are so short that I 
could not get home before ! ” 

“ That boy is always ready with an excuse. 
He blames the days for being so short, instead of 
himself for staying out so late. You have missed 
seeing the flags in the churches, young gentle¬ 
man.” 


CHURCH OF KESAN. 


18T 


“ 0, do tell me about them, please, papa! I 
wanted to go so much with you when you went 
there ! ” 

“You know that all the churches are adorned 
with trophies gained in battle with different 
countries. The Kesan church has the most, .and 



they are hung up as ornaments on the pillars of 
the church. There are flags taken from the dif¬ 
ferent nations, and keys of French and of Ger¬ 
man towns.” 

“ And are the flags much torn, papa ? as if 
they fought boldly, as our soldiers do.” 

“ The, French flags are so torn that sometimes 
only a fragment is left, and even the flag-staff 
alone has been brought away in some cases, the 
flag having been destroyed, to keep it from the 
enemy.” 






188 


SPECTACLES. 


“ And did the Persians and Turks fight as 
well?” 

“ No ; I must say it seemed as if the Turkish 
and Persian flags were given up without so much 
struggle ; some looked fresh and uninjured. The 
Turkish flag was a handsome piece of crimson 
cloth with a crescent on it.” 

“ And what were the Persian ones ? were they 
as handsome ? ” 

“ They were splendid! ” said Walter. “ They 
had a great silver hand on them as large as a 
real hand.” 

“ And what keys would they want to fight 
about ? ” asked Peter. 

“ Why,” said Walter, “ don’t you know they 
have the keys of Hamburg, Dresden, and many 
other cities where the Russians have fought.” 

“Yes, they have keys of German, French, and 
Netlierland cities,” said his father. 

“ After we went to the church of Kesan, we 
visited the church of Peter and Paul in the for¬ 
tress. You can see the small spire at any time 
rising above the city; it is three hundred and 
forty feet high.” 

“ It is that spire, Peter, that you said looked 
like a knitting-needle, and shines like gold in the 
sun,” said Walter. 

“ 0, I remember it now, and I have a picture 


THE FORTRESS. 


189 


of it to carry home to America. I shall value 
these pictures more, now that I have a descrip¬ 
tion of them.” 

“ If you could have seen the simplicity of this 
burial-place of the Emperors, my boy, you would 
have been surprised. There is nothing for each 
but a simple stone sarcophagus, with a red cloth 
over it, in the church.” 

“ I wondered how often they would have to 
put a new cloth on there, they looked so clean,” 
said Walter. 

“ Who but a child would have had such a 
strange idea ! ” said Mrs. Hamilton. “ Was there 
an inscription on the pall ? ” 

“ Only these few words: ‘ His Imperial Ma¬ 
jesty Peter the First 9 ; and sometimes nothing 
but initial letters. The keys of some Polish for¬ 
tress lie on the sarcophagus of the Grand Duke 
Constantine. A hundred cannon defend the 
place, and a garrison of three thousand men; 
and this fortress cannot be attacked until all St. 
Petersburg is in ruins.” 

“ Why are they so very particular about this 
fortress ? ” asked Peter. 

“ Why, don’t you understand that all the Em¬ 
perors are buried here, and so they consider it a 
sacred spot ? ” said Walter. 

“ Not all the Emperors, my boy; only the 


190 


SPECTACLES. 


Emperors since Peter the Great. The former 
Emperors are all buried in Moscow.” 

44 Then let us go to Moscow, father, and see 
what is to be seen there,” said Walter. 

44 0 yes, father ! Let us go to Moscow ! ” 
echoed Peter. 

44 Yery well, we’ll ask your mother about it; 
you don’t want to go to-night, certainly ! ” he 
answered. 

44 0 no! not to-night! but may we go ? ” 

44 Yes ; I mean to do so this winter. But you 
have not seen the ice-hills yet, and the cutting of 
ice on the Neva.” 

44 Shall we go to-morrow, papa, and see that ? ’’ 

44 Yes, if you will listen to all I want you to 
hear this evening; I wish' you to remember all 
about the fortress ; that around the sarcophagi 
and on the pillars in the churches, flags and other 
trophies are suspended. The Persian flag is a 
long, triangular piece of silk stuff trimmed with 
lace ; in the centre of it is a panther, and over 
his back there is a great sun.” 

44 What does that represent, father ? ” 

44 I don’t know, my dear ; but the Persians 
worshipped the sun.” 

44 Which is the handsomest church in St. 
Petersburg, father ? ” 

44 Isaac’s Church, which is just finished. It 


ISAAC’S CHURCH. 


191 


stands among the finest buildings, in the most 
open space in the city. It was commenced by 
Nicholas I. and is finished by Alexander II. It 
is composed entirely of blocks of granite and of 
polished marble, and built on immense piles sunk 
in the swampy soil. There are three flights of 
steps, of great width, that look like polished 
marble, and are of reddish granite, on each side 
of the church. There are three steps to ascend, 
and then a landing-place, then you mount three 
more and rest again. These steps lead to the four 
entrances of the church, that are surrounded 
by immense pillars. They are sixty feet high, 
and seven feet in diameter. The central dome 
is on smaller pillars, and is twice as high as they 
are, and much broader than it is high. It is 
covered with gold, and glitters like the sun.” 

“ Is it real gold, father ? ” asked Mary. 

“ It is copper covered with gold. Then there 
are four smaller domes, and on the top of the 
large cupola there is a rotunda witli a gilded 
cross. On each side there is a portico, with pil¬ 
lars leading to the church.” 

“ Tell him about the consecration of the 
church, papa ; that was the best part; just like 
Cinderella and the glass slipper ! ” 

“ Why, Mary, what do you mean ? ” asked her 
father. 


192 


SPECTACLES. 


44 The gold coaches, papa, and the Emperor’s 
mother, who sat in one of the chairs, to look on 
when she was tired, and was like Cinderella’s 
godmother, who rode away in a gold coach, — 
only this is all true, you know! ” 

44 Well, Mary ! in the first place, the steps of 
the church were covered with crimson velvet, 
only for this occasion of the dedication.” 

44 But whenever the Emperor’s family go any¬ 
where they have red velvet to walk on,” said 
Mary. 

44 Yes ; and at this ceremony the street around 
the church was covered with crimson velvet for 
their imperial feet. They entered the church, 
and the priests and chanters walked with them 
round it, chanting beautiful music. When the 
ceremony was all over they walked round the 
outside of the church on the velvet, — all but the 
old mother of the Empress, who had a chair on 
the sidewalk, and gazed at the show. Then they 
entered their splendid gold coaches and rode 
away.” 

44 Were the coaches very handsome, like Cin¬ 
derella’s ? ” asked Mary. 

44 They seemed to be made of solid gold. The 
spokes of the high wheels were of ornamental 
work, with a broad rim of gold round the edge.” 

44 How many gold coaches were there ? ” 


CHURCH OF KESAN. 


193 


“Perhaps twelve, which always appear on 
state occasions. The horses are all one color, 
and they pranced so high that they were held by 
long bands, fastened to an arch over their heads, 
— like the usual harness in Russia, — which was 
held by men in livery.’’ 

“ How did you see the ceremony ? ” 

“ Only from a window, which was hired for us 
by a Russian, at a very high price.” 

“ What other churches are there so hand¬ 
some ? ” 

“ There are none equal to this in beauty, for 
the pillars are of malachite and lapis-lazuli. So 
that the inside of the church is green and blue 
and gold.” 

“Just the color of the dragon-flies at the side 
of the brook at home,” said Mary. 

“ I am glad Mary likes and remembers home 
so well! ” said her father. “ But the interior of 
the church of Kesan is very splendid too. There 
are immense pillars of solid silver to the sanctu¬ 
ary ; the doors, doorways, and beams are made 
of it. The railing around the altar, the arches 
twenty feet high above it, and all the picture- 
frames, are of solid silver ! ” 

“ It must look like Aladdin’s lamp, — like the 
wonderful palace that was built in a night! ” 
said Walter. 


VOL. II. 


9 


M 


194 


SPECTACLES. 


“ How came they to have so much silver that 
it could be used for building ? ” said Mrs. Hamil¬ 
ton. 

“ It was presented to the church by the Cos¬ 
sacks, and it is said that hundreds of soup- 
tureens and tea-pots, and thousands of dozens of 
silver spoons belonging to the French and Ger¬ 
mans, must have been melted down for this 
offering.” 

“ Are there any convents here, papa ? ” asked 
Walter. 

“ There are two convents. One is called the 
Smolnoi Convent, dedicated to the education of 
young girls, and five hundred are brought up 
there at the expense of the government. The 
balustrades of the sanctuary ai'b made of glass, 
and with doors where the pillars are of gold, 
ornamented with exquisite carvings. The other 
convent is that of St. Alexander Nevsky, found¬ 
ed by Peter the Great, in honor of the Grand 
Duke Alexander, who defeated the Swedes here. 
Catherine II., who built the cathedral, sent the 
pearls from Persia, and precious stones from Si¬ 
beria, to adorn the interior. There are portraits 
of Peter the Great and Catherine II. hanging 
before the altar, and a monument of silver to 
Alexander Nevsky in the side chapel.” 

“ Papa, please tell us about the regiment of 


Isaac’s church. 


195 


guards founded by Peter the Great, which is one 
of the oldest regiments, and who have a church 
where the fence is made of cannon,” asked 
Walter. 

“ That interests me the most! ” said Peter. 

“ It is not handsome, of course,” said Mr. 
Hamilton ; “ but it is interesting, because it is 
more ornamented by trophies than any other 
church. It is surrounded by a fence of cannon, 
which form the posts, and chains are suspended 
from them, with the two-headed eagle in iron as 
an ornament. Behind the fence are cannon¬ 
balls, piled up in pyramids, to form ornamental 
designs. All these are taken from the Turks 
and the French. The church is decorated with 
flags, and its pillars have been compared to 
‘ palm-trees, of which every leaf is a lance.’ 

“ I should like to hear about the monument in 
silver,” said Mary. 

“ Mary, it is a 4 silver mountain,’ with silver 
angels on it, as big as a man, holding trumpets 
and silver flowers,” said Peter. 

“ How big is the mountain ? ” said Mary. “ A 
silver mountain! — that is more astonishing than 
any story yet! ” 

“ It is fifteen feet high ! ” said Peter. 

“ How much does it weigh in solid silver ? ” 
asked Mrs. Hamilton. 


196 


SPECTACLES. 


“ I should think there were not less than five 
thousand pounds of solid silver in it,” replied 
Mr. Hamilton. 

“It does seem just like the stories in the 
Arabian Nights I ” said Walter. 

“ The presents sent by the Persians to Russia, 
on one occasion, were like a fairy story, I grant, 
— when the Persian prince drove in an imperial 
equipage with six horses, followed by elephants 
that had on leather boots to protect them from 
the cold, and carried towers on their backs, filled 
with warriors, and lions and tigers in cages lined 
with double bear-skins, because it was winter 
when they came. And what was most like 
Aladdin’s lamp, there were men carrying dishes 
of gold, containing precious stones and gold 
stuffs.” 

“ That is just like the fairy stories ! — they al¬ 
ways wear gold stuffs ! ” said Mary. “ Where 
did Walter find that story ? ” 

“ I found it in my history, which you are al¬ 
ways laughing at me about. There are many 
more wonderful stories there, such as you would 
read in a fairy-story book and would think dull 
in your history. Are we going to see the ice- 
hills to-morrow, papa ? ” 

“Yes, if you are quite ready to say good¬ 
night now ? ” 


ISAAC’S CHURCH. 


197* 


“ But if you would tell us about the ice-hills 
first! ” they petitioned. 

But their father was inexorable. Had they 
not heard about the churches and the proces¬ 
sion of the Persians, and much more that I 
forget, — and you too, — and were they not as 
tired as you must be now ? So good night! 


CHAPTER XVI. 


ICE-HILLS AND ICE CUTTING. 

The ice-liills of the Russians are both public 
and private. During the holidays they are a 
source of great amusement to them, and are 
erected in different sections of the city. The 
private hills, or those erected by individuals, are 
frequented by the nobility and gentry. The 
sleds are of iron, and cushioned, very long and 
narrow. The gentleman steers with both hands 
behind him, placed upon the ice, while the 
lady is seated -in front, both facing the de¬ 
scent, which at the start is about thirty degrees 
declinatioA ; so that you descend with bird-like 
speed, gradually lessening as you approach the 
opposite ice-hill. The same course is observed 
in returning. The course, or track, after the 
first plunge, is horizontal, composed of blocks of 
ice, reaching from the top of each hill to the foot 
of the opposite one. 

The buildings are of wood, and thirty feet 
high ; on the top there is a room with fire and 





















































































































































































































































































































































































ICE CUTTING. 


199 


refreshments, where the pleasure-seeker may en¬ 
joy the comforts of a fireside and a select party 
of friends. 

The snow falls very gently, and the snow-flakes 
appear like small particles of pulverized ice, that 
does not adhere to your dress. The imperial 
family may be seen walking abroad, without any 
umbrella, in one of these showers of snow. As 
there is no wind stirring in winter, storms and 
thaws are unknown, and a perfect stillness per¬ 
vades the cold atmosphere, whilst the keen 
winds of autumn and winter are cutting in the 
extreme. 

The principal sidewalks of the city are swept 
after each fall of snow, and sanded, or earth is 
strewed upon the walk. 

The promise of viewing the ice-cutting was 
kept the next day, by the boys and Mr. Hamil¬ 
ton, who took a sledge and drove out towards 
the river Neva. The departure of the ice, as I 
have already told you, is a celebration in Russia. 
As the other ports of the Baltic are open before 
this, many vessels are always waiting to hear 
the important news of the opening of the Neva. 

During the excessively hot and short summer 
in St. Petersburg, immense quantities of ice are 
consumed. It is said that five hundred thousand 
sledge-loads of ice are taken from the river in 


200 


SPECTACLES. 


one season. The process of ice-cutting is well 
worth seeing ; and, having viewed churches, pub¬ 
lic buildings, and hospitals, our young people 
thought it quite time to see this interesting win¬ 
ter spectacle. 

And Peter was in high spirits at the idea of 
the amusement. u So much better than snow¬ 
balling, Walter,” he said; “ there is so much 
fun here, I never shall be contented in America 
again.” 

“ That would be a poor recompense to me 
for your expensive journey and the pleasure you 
have had,” answered Mr. Hamilton. 

“ 0, well, I did not exactly mean that, you 
know! ” 

“ You will please say what you exactly mean 
in future ! ” said his father, loftily. 

I thought how much that seemed like the boy 
James, whom we formerly knew, whose advice 
and instruction to the younger children always 
made us feel so insignificant. I remembered the 
old lines of Wordsworth that said, 

“ The child is father of the man! ” 

and I wondered if he had not had a prophetic 
eye, and seen some of the youths of the present 
day, who are so fond of instructing their parents 
and of giving sage counsel to them. Unless we 
hurry, that ice-cutting will be over before we 
arrive! 


ICE CUTTING. 


201 


The workmen begin by clearing the snow 
away and marking the size of the blocks to be 
cut on the ice. When that is done, the work¬ 
men cut deep trenches round the square marked 
out; as the ice is four or five feet thick, the men 
are almost hidden in the trenches, like a miner 
at his work. There is left a thickness of ice 
sufficient to support a man, which must he after¬ 
wards broken by hand. So they mount upon the 
block, from out the pit they have made for them¬ 
selves, and strike, at the same moment, with 
heavy irons, all along the narrow line left in the 
bottom of the trench. This large block, which 
breaks just where it is marked, — like a small 
bit if you draw a line on it, — this is divided in 
smaller pieces and carried away on sledges to 
the city. As the immense lumps lie on the 
snow they are said to look green, which we no¬ 
tice in all ice that is painted in a picture, but 
which I cannot say I ever noticed in real ice 
before. 

I have told you before about the bridges of 
boats, which are used as soon as the breaking up 
of the ice is known and announced by the firing 
of cannon. A space is cleared in the river, a 
few days before this, for the boats to glide to 
their proper places; each pontoon has its own 
anchor and is securely fastened to piles. The 


202 


SPECTACLES. 


Russians are so fond of these bridges, that they 
are put up and taken to pieces twice a day if 
necessary, as it sometimes is, owing to the ice 
that floats in from Lake Ladoga. 

After looking at this process till they had 
found the best way of ice-cutting and of se¬ 
curing pontoon bridges, the boys hastened home, 
to give a detailed account to their unsuspecting 
mother, who was always ready to be amused or 
deceived by their astonishing recitals. 

The bridges of boats, and the water-carriers, 
who are employed to bring water from the Neva, 
every day, to supply the inhabitants, — as there 



are no wells in the city, — seemed to us among 
the strangest things we had seen in this strange 
country. 







ICE CUTTING. 


203 


Peter’s account of the ice-cutting, where the 
men disappeared from view entirely, and then 
where each came up out of the trench, flourish¬ 
ing his iron pike, — like Neptune from the sea, 

* with his trident, — will not be of much interest 
to you ; but when the family met together in the 
evening, and were talking of seeing new cities 
and of viewing other spectacles, then old nurse, 
who was listening attentively and wondering — as 
ever — why people could not stay at home, with¬ 
in their own boundaries, — then she burst out in 4 
a fresh blaze of indignation, saying, “ I should 
not wonder if you went to Pekin, or to see the 
Khan of Tartary himself! What in the world 
are you looking out more Spectacles for ? for I 
declare you make nothing but a Spectacle of 
yourselves! ” 

But if we should go where the wonderful 
Chinese dwell, — those “ people who live in 
glass-houses and never throw stones,” — let us 
hope, if we do visit that rare country, that you 
will go with us! Will you promise ? and will 
you go ? Good by ! 

END OF VOL. II. 


VOL. III.-PEKIN. 




“ We consider emphatically, that the imprimatur of Walker, Wise, & Co., 
upon a book for young readers, is a guaranty of its purity of taste, its high 
moral character, and its substantial usefulness.” 

North American Review. 


WALKER, WISE, & CO.’S 

JUVENILES. 


THE SPECTACLE SERIES. 

Now in course of publication, “SPECTACLES FOR 
YOUNG EYES.” 


Now ready. 

Boston and Yicinitt. 16mo. Price, 75 cents. 
St. Petersburg. 16mo. Price, 75 cents. 


The following in rapid succession. 


Pekin. 

Rio Janeiro. 

Berlin. 

London. 

Rome. 

Paris. 

Venice. 

Moscow. 

Zurich. 

Washington. 


All profusely illustrated with authentic drawings, and uniformly 
bound in bright colors, gilt backs and sides. 





2 


WALKER, WISE, & CO.’S JUVENILES. 


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FROM 

THE LIPS OF THE TEACHER. 

RETOLD BY A DISCIPLE. 

Square 16mo. 

Illustrated with Frontispiece and Eleven Vignettes . 
Attractively bound. 75 cts. 

This charming volume, from the pen of Rev. O. 
B. Frothingham, will meet a long-existing^ want 
among books for the young. It presents the 
Parables of our Lord with that fulness of descrip¬ 
tion which makes them living realities to the read¬ 
er, and draws from them those morals they w r ere 
designed to convey, with great beauty and simpli- 






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WALKER, WISE, & CO.’S JUVENILES. 


THE HOME STORIES. 

3 vols. 16mo. 75 cents each. 


THE BAREFOOTED MAIDEN: a Tale. By 
B'erthold Auerbach. Translated by Eliza 
Buckminster Lee. 16mo. Illustrated with de¬ 
signs etched on steel. 75 cts. 

THE MUSIC-MASTER AND HIS FRIENDS. 
By Mrs. Mary L. Denison, Author of numerous 
favorite Juvenile Books. 16mo. With original 
Wood-cuts. 75 cts. 

v 

FRED FREELAND ; or, The Chain of Circum¬ 
stances. 75 cts. 

“ We cordially recommend this finely written and instructive 
tale.” — Philadelphia National Argus. 

“ Exceedingly interesting and instructive. — Dover Gazette. 

“ Cannot fail to interest and improve.” — Burlington Sentinel. 

" Attractive in style, and unexceptionable in matter.” — Wood- 
stock Spirit of the Age. 

All attractively bound in uniform style, and boxed. 



WALKER, WISE, & CO.’S JUVENILES. 


5 



Little Benny had no notion of any other sort of money than 
copper money; all his juvenile receipts had been in pennies, 
which, from his love of reading, he always spent for little penny 
books, till he had quite a library of them. 

One day, a gentleman visiting at Benny’s father’s house, see¬ 
ing how Benny spent his money, gave him a bright new quarter 
of a dollar. 

This “silver penny,” as Benny called it, was soon spent for 
a nice twenty-five cent book, the first of a long shelf full of 
“ quarter-dollar ” books, which he called his “ Silver Penny 
Library.” To supply the demand for attractive but cheap 
books for little folks, we have commenced this new series, to 
which additions will be made from time to time; and, in re¬ 
membrance of Little Benny, we call it 

®fre Silfrtr fbiutg %n'us, 

(For titles, see next page.) 




6 


Talker, wise, & co.’s juveniles. 


SILVER PENNY SERIES. 


Patty Williams’s Voyage. 

The Story of the Princess Na« 
rina and her Silver-feathered 
Shoes. 

Nobody’s Child | and other Sto¬ 
ries. Edited by the Author of 
“ Violet,” “ Daisy,” “ Noisy Her¬ 
bert,” &c. 


Sunny-eyed Tim, the Observan- 
Little Boy. By the Author o 
“ Faith and Patience,” &c. 

Juthoo and his Sunday Schoo 1 

A Tale of Child-Life in India. B ; 
the Brahmin, J. G. Gangooly. 

Theda and the Mountain. B; 

the Author of “ Summer with th 
Little Grays.” 


HYMNS FOR MOTHERS AND CHILDREN. Selected and edit¬ 
ed by one of the compilers of “ Hymns of the Ages.” Printed 
on delicately tinted paper, and adorned by an appropriate title- 
page and frontispiece, and six exquisite vignettes by Billings. 
Third Edition. Square 16mo. $ 1.50. 

“ There is not a commonplace or an inferior piece in the whole selection: a 
beautiful design, carried out with excellent judgment and taste, and consum¬ 
mated with the daintiest skill of printer, engraver, and binder.” — N. Y. In¬ 
dependent. 

THE UNION SERIES, 4 vols., in a box, as follows: — 

THE BOY INVENTOR ; or, Memoir of Matthew Edwards. By 
the Author of “ The Age of Fable,” &c. 16mo. Illustrated. 
60 cents. 

u Every hoy, especially every poor boy, should read this very entertaining 
life-story. It is practically and importantly suggestive.” — Philadelphia 
City Item. 

ALICE’S DREAM. A Tale of Christmas-Time. Two exquisite 
Illustrations by Billings. 60 cents. 

A charmingly written Christmas Story, worthy the perusal of old 
and young. 

“ A tone of practical common sense and piety pervades ‘Alice’s Dream,’ 
and we strongly recommend it.”— Saturday Express. 

FLOWERS THAT NEVER FADE. Stories in Prose and - Verse. 
With numerous illustrations. 60 cts. 

PICTURES AND FLOWERS FOR CHILEbLOVERS. A charm¬ 
ing and unique selection — from an imndense range of authors 
— of Prose and Poetry about Children. Its selections are hu¬ 
morous, descriptive, serious, &c. By a Mother. 16mo. 216 pp. 
Illustrated. 60 cts. All in bright-colored cloth. 








* 










































8 


WALKER, WISE, & CO.’S JUVENILES 


? “ALL THE CHILDREN’S” LIBRARY. 

An entirely new and original set of Juveniles on a new plan. The six 
books composing the set are divided into three grades, — the first two are 
for young children, and are simple stories in short words, and printed in 
large print. The next two are more advanced, and the last two may be 
read with interest and profit by the oldest children, and even bv adults. 
All are printed in the best manner, upon superior paper, fully illustrated , 
with original designs, and tastefully and substantially bound. 

Each volume is by a different author , and they are sold separately. 

NOISY HERBERT, and other Stories, for Small Children. 

By the Author of “ Daisy,” “ Violet,” &c. 60 cts. 

The R. B. R.’s t My Little Neighbors. A Story for the “ Younger 

Members.” 60 cts. 

BESSIE GRANT’S TREASURE. By Aunt Dora. 60 cts. 

A SUMMER WITH THE LITTLE GRAYS. ByH. W. P. 60 cts. 
MODESTY AND MERIT $ or, The Gray-Bird’s Story of 
Little May-Rose and John. From the German. 60 cts. 

FAITH AND PATIENCE. A Story—and something more—for Boys. 
60 cts. 

“ These books may be unreservedly recommended.” — Daily Advertiser. 

“ For lessons of truth, honesty, generosity, courtesy, and all of manliness (not 
more) that should be found in the ingenuous boy, —and these lessons, not in a 
didactic form, but insinuated in the natural course of a graceful and charming 
story, — we have seldom seen ‘ Faith and Patience ’ paralleled, never surpassed, in 
juvenile literature. Its morality is that of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is redo¬ 
lent throughout of the spirit of the Divine Teacher.”— North American Review. 

“ This charming Library, for variety and adaptation to meet the wants of the 
various ages of a family group, is certainly unsurpassed.” — Christian Register. 

“ These six volumes, enclosed in their neat box, form a very rich entertainment 
for children of various ages, beginning with the youngest. We commend the series 
to parents.”— Monthly Religious Magazine. 

“ Very pretty, useful, and amusing, admirably adapted to instruction and amuse¬ 
ment.”— Boston Post. 

“ We can recommend these books as particularly adapted to the amusement and 
instruction of children. The plots of the stories are unexceptionable, and they are 
made the vehicle of imparting valuable information on general subjects. 

“ ‘ Faith and Patience ’ is a capital story, and no child can read it through with¬ 
out receiving with the pleasure a great many interesting facts.” — Greenfield Gaz. 
“ We cordially recommend them.” — Sunday School Advocate. 

WALKER, WISE, AND COMPANY, 

PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, 

245 Washington St., Boston. 




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